Texas Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Embryos

The Case of Roman Vs. Roman

Texas' top court will decide the fate of embryos fought over by a divorced couple, according to the Associated Press.

In the Chicago Tribune, dated June 10, 2007, it was reported by Jim Vertuno of the Associated Press, that the top court in Texas will, of necessity, be deciding the fate of embryos belonging to Augusta and Randy Roman.

Because of fertility problems, a clinic had extracted Augusta Roman's eggs and fertilized them with her then-husband Randy's sperm but in April 2002, just before the eggs were to be implanted in her, he announced he "couldn't go through with it," citing marriage problems. The embryos were frozen, in the hopes that the couple could sort their differences out, but they decided to end the marriage.

The two parties bitterly disagree on the what should be done with these embryos. Augusta, 45, wants to keep them, saying, "These are my children. This is my last chance at being a biological mom." Randy bitterly opposes keeping them. He believes that "the embryos were meant for use only within the marriage."

Because they couldn't agree on the fate of their embryos, the Houston trial court became involved. The court "ordered the embryos turned over to Augusta." Randy, however, appealed the courts decision and won.

The Texas Supreme Court is considering one key piece of evidence. Both signed a form that said the embryos would be discarded in the event of a divorce.

Randy fully believes this form is binding but Augusta's attorney, Becky Reitz, says her client "signed it believing she would get to try embryo implantation at least once."

In similar cases, six states as well as the European Court of Human Rights "have generally upheld the rights of the ex-spouse who does not want to procreate," said David Meyer, an expert in family and constitutional law at the University of Illinois.

Associated Press, Embryo custody fight tests Texas family law, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-embryo10_bdjun10,1,2017005.story