Women in court to save their embryos
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Two women launched a High Court action yesterday to prevent their former partners destroying their frozen fertilised embryos.
Lawyers for Natallie Evans, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, and Lorraine Hadley, from Baswich, near Stafford, lodged papers at the High Court in London – the first step to challenging a law which says both parties must consent to the storage and use of frozen embryos.
Ms Evans, who placed six embryos into storage before she had cancer treatment, is acting against her former fiancé Howard Johnston and a fertility clinic. Ms Hadley has two embryos in storage dating from her relationship with her former husband Wayne.
Their solicitor, Muiris Lyons, said the case was the first of its kind and expected to come before High Court Family Division president Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss on 19 September.
Mr Lyons said the women had won legal aid and would challenge the law as being unfair and discriminatory. He added: "It is not just about them. The result will affect everyone undertaking IVF treatment. The law as it stands gives their respective former partners a complete veto."
They were being discriminated against because they were infertile. If they became pregnant naturally, their partners would have no say at all.