UK Woman One Step Closer to Carrying Dead Daughter's Child

She won an appeal regarding her late daughter's frozen eggs
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 30, 2016 12:04 PM CDT
UK Woman One Step Closer to Carrying Dead Daughter's Child
A UK woman may soon be bringing her late daughter's frozen eggs to the US.   (Shutterstock)

A 60-year-old woman from the UK who's been in a protracted legal battle to become pregnant using her dead daughter's frozen eggs has made some progress toward winning that fight, the BBC reports. After not being able to find a British clinic that would implant her with the eggs from her daughter, who died of cancer in 2011 at the age of 28, the woman tried to bring the eggs to the US to get it done with donor sperm—but London's High Court ruled last year her plan was a no-go, saying there wasn't enough evidence that the daughter had wanted her mom to be her surrogate. But Thursday, a three-judge panel was swayed by the woman (known only as Mrs. M.), whose lawyer said she simply wants to carry out the wishes of her "much-loved and only child" by giving birth to and raising her grandchild as her own, per the Telegraph.

The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority had argued that, while it was sympathetic to the plight of the woman and her 59-year-old husband to "keep their daughter's memory alive," it had acted "lawfully and rationally" by not allowing the eggs to be brought to the US to be transplanted into Mrs. M., as the daughter hadn't provided full written consent. But Mrs. M.'s lawyer explained that if the appeals court didn't overturn the High Court's ruling, those eggs would "simply be allowed to perish"—and the High Court agreed the case was compelling enough to be sent back to the HFEA for reconsideration, which is where the decision once more lies. Mrs. M. and her husband weren't in court for Thursday's ruling, the Daily Star notes. (Here's how women are getting pregnant at 50—without IVF.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X