A judge has granted a widower permission to use an embryo from his dead wife in order to try to have a daughter with a surrogate mother.
The embryo was created with his late wife’s eggs despite her not providing written consent prior to her death.
Created seven years ago during fertility treatment, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority kept the embryo viable due to the man’s wife’s unexpected passing with their second daughter.
The man’s wife had originally had a miscarriage in 2008 but became pregnant again a year later.
Due to complications with the pregnancy, the couple’s eldest daughter was born three months prematurely but survived.
Wanting a sibling for their daughter, the couple once again attempted to conceive naturally before turning to IVF treatment.
From this process, two healthy embryos were created using the couple’s eggs and sperm, with the wife falling pregnant again and giving birth to a second daughter.
However, shortly after the birth, the mother and her infant child sadly passed away, leaving the widower with the second unused embryo.
Now, seven years on, the man has seen his wish to use that remaining embryo with a surrogate granted by a High Court judge in London, The Times reported.
The ruling judge stated in her verdict that she ‘seeks to support rather than undermine the importance of consent and personal autonomy’.
The judge added that an ‘insistence on written consent would, in the particular circumstances of this case, defeat rather than promote this objective’.
