Embryo case woman asks human rights court to let her have baby

A WOMAN left infertile after cancer treatment has taken her fight to have a baby using frozen IVF embryos to the European Court of Human Rights.

The case could hinge on whether her embryos are deemed to have "human" rights.

Natallie Evans began IVF treatment with her then partner, Howard Johnston, in 2001. However, the couple split up and Mr Johnston withdrew his consent for Ms Evans to use the six stored embryos, which had been fertilised with his sperm.

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The Court of Appeal ruled in June that Ms Evans, from Wiltshire, could not use the embryos, but she has now lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Under British law both partners must consent but Ms Evans will argue that the embryos themselves have rights under the European Convention of Human Rights, to which the UK is a signatory.

She also claims that banning her from using the embryos is a breach of her own rights to private and family life, guaranteed by the Convention.

Her solicitor, Muiris Lyons, of London firm Alexander Harris, said the most significant legal argument in the case was that the embryos may have a qualified right to life of their own.

"This argument goes to the heart of the debate about when life is created and the sanctity of human life," he said. "It is an argument that has not yet been considered by the Court of Human Rights and the court’s ruling could have a profound effect on the law, medicine and science."

The case could turn into a race against time, because if UK law is overturned and Ms Evans is granted the legal right to use the embryos, she only has until October 2006, when a five-year maximum embryo-storage period expires. A human rights application can take more than a year to reach court, with many more months before a final verdict is delivered.

Ms Evans said: "I feel that I have to pursue every possible route to save my embryos. I hoped that I could have done so in the UK, but I now have no other choice but to take my case to Europe."

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