A divorced couple argue over a frozen embryo; Polish woman dreams of having another child

A Polish woman was permitted to proceed with her pregnancy using vitro fertilization, despite her ex-husband being opposed.

In what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind in Poland, the court had permitted a woman to continue her pregnancy through IVF (in vitro fertilization) despite her ex-husband being opposed. 

Married and divorced; Polish couple fights over a frozen embryo

While still married, the couple faced fertility issues and turned to IVF with hopes of conceiving a child. As a result, four embryos were created from the couple; two of the embryos were found defective. Of the remaining two, one was transferred into the woman´s body, resulting in the consequent birth of the couple´s daughter. The other embryo was left frozen for potential future use.

Going through the divorce, as part of their settlement, the husband left the wife the right to decide on the frozen embryo, provided that she would be in charge of childcare costs before and after birth. The couple had been divorced for two years when the former husband reneged on the arranged settlement and refused to consent to the transfer of the embryo into the mother´s body. 

As the woman wanted to use this chance for a new pregnancy, her ex-husband declared that he would only allow her the alternative of disposing of the embryo entirely or placing it for adoption.

Single mother by the IVF; Polish views on frozen embryos

In a country where abortion is a serious offense, despite the increasing number of protesters fighting for women´s reproductive rights, such a perplexed situation was met with support for the woman. She took the matter to court and turned to the aid of the Oirdo luris; a prominent ultraconservative legal group.

Ordo luris typically condemn the use of TVF, but in this case, they showed support to the woman, seeing that the already conceived embryo had to be protected. “While there is no doubt that IVF is an unethical method with low effectiveness and dehumanization of children,”, as the group stated, the fertilization procedure had already taken place, hence “there´s a child frozen in liquid nitrogen was waiting for the chance to be born,” said Paweł  Scafraniec of Orfo luris.