A woman wanting to use her dead daughter's frozen eggs to give birth to her own grandchild has been granted permission to export them to the US for treatment.
Following a Court of Appeal decision in her favour, on 30 June, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has ruled the eggs can now be taken from storage to a clinic in New York to be used with donor sperm.
The HFEA had previously refused to release the eggs because the daughter, known as AM, had not given her full written consent before she died, aged 28.
The mother claims her daughter said: "I want you to carry my babies. I didn’t go through IVF to save my eggs for nothing."
Legal battle
The woman and her 59-year-old husband have spent five years trying to win their case and the mother lost a High Court case last year before subsequently overturning the decision at the Court of Appeal.
In a High Court ruling last year, Mr Justice Ouseley upheld the decision by the HFEA that there had been no breach of the family's human rights by banning the move.
However, in a two-page decision, Lord Justice Floyd and Lord Justice Treacy granted the mother permission to appeal, arguing the HFEA's decision was "too stringent".
It was then at the Court of Appeal that Jenni Richards QC claimed that there was "clear evidence" of what the daughter wanted to happen to her eggs after she died, and that "all available evidence" showed she wanted her mother "to have her child after death".
'Exceptional and unique'
The HFEA said: "Our Statutory Approvals Committee reconsidered this case in the light of the Appeal Court judgment.
"They agreed, in the exceptional and unique circumstances of this case, to grant special directions to export AM’s eggs to the USA.
"This has been a difficult case, above all for Mr and Mrs M, but as the judge made clear, such issues of consent are the cornerstone of the law and needed to be carefully considered."
Meanwhile the mother has said she and her husband were "very pleased that the HFEA have now agreed to release our beloved daughter's eggs for export to the US".
She added: "It is our hope that others who find themselves in a similar situation to ours will not now have to go through the protracted heartache that we have had to endure."
Children are gifts, not commodities
In response to the Court of Appeal ruling, Philippa Taylor of Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) highlighted how the interests of parents are often prioritised over that of the child – in this case in a way that "erodes human dignity".
"In Christian thought children are gifts, given to us to love and care for. They are not commodities that we choose or own. This is not a popular concept in a culture that values self-fulfillment so highly.
"It is possible to have genuine sympathy for the family's tragedy in facing the death of their only child but, rather than solely grieving the loss of her daughter, the mother seems to be trying to 'replace' her loss by carrying her dead daughter's baby, aided and abetted by others.
"This is yet another sad example of society's desperate attempts to find new ways to cheat death which is driving us to ignore or stifle a deep-seated sense of repugnance, and to permit practices that erode human dignity and undermine societal goods."
Related Links:
Mother permitted to give birth to her dead daughter's child (Christian Medical Fellowship)
60-year old woman wins appeal to use dead daughter's eggs
Woman in legal challenge to use dead daughter's eggs
Concern as Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority figures show large rise in IVF mistakes (Telegraph)
Gran, 60, set to give birth to dead daughter's baby as part of dying wish (Mirror)