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Article: Whose embryo is it anyway? Courts wrestle with issues of high-tech reproduction.
- Article from:
- Trial
- Article date:
- December 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 American Association for Justice, formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA®). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Advancements in reproductive technology have enabled thousands of infertile couples to achieve their dream of having children biologically. At the same time, these developments have presented the judiciary with new and challenging issues.
Some of the toughest cases have involved cryopreservation--a process whereby a donor's gametes or the embryos created from them are frozen and stored at very low temperatures for future use. This has resulted in a unique kind of custody dispute, as courts must now determine ownership rights when divorcing parties disagree about the disposition of their frozen embryos.
Courts have been grappling with the complex legal ...