IVF woman loses last-ditch legal bid to use embryos

Published on Tuesday 7 March 2006 14:20

A BRITISH woman today lost her last desperate legal battle for the right to use her frozen IVF embryos to have a baby.

Natallie Evans endured defeats in the UK courts and faced an order to destroy the embryos, because her ex-fiance withdrew his consent to use them.

With time running out for the use of her stored embryos, she turned to the European Court of Human Rights.

But today the Strasbourg judges backed the UK law requiring a partner's approval at every stage of the process.

The verdict effectively signals the final destruction of the six embryos which held Ms Evans's only hopes of having a child that is genetically hers.

Ms Evans's lawyers argued the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act governing IVF treatment was a breach of the Human Rights Convention which guarantees the "right to family life".

But the judges today said the Act included a "clear and principled" rule

"whereby the consent of either party might be withdrawn at any stage up to the point of implementation of an embryo" and which was explained to those embarking on IVF.

Ms Evans and her then fiance opted for IVF when doctors said she would be left infertile after being treated for cancer. But the couple later split up, and Ms Evans's former partner Howard Johnston reversed his consent.