U.K. woman may bear grandchild, court rules

Daughter’s dying wish that her mother act as surrogate, raise baby could come true

A 60-year-old British woman has been embroiled in a long legal fight over whether she can use her deceased daughter’s frozen eggs to carry her own grandchild.

Last week, the woman, identified as “Mrs. M,” won a crucial case in the Court of Appeal in London that could allow her to carry out what she called her daughter’s dying wish.

“They are never going to let me leave this hospital, mum,” her daughter was quoted in court as saying before she died, according to court documents.

“The only way I will get out of here will be in a body bag.

“I want you to carry my babies. I didn’t go through IVF to save my eggs for nothing. I want you and dad to bring them up; they will be safe with you. I couldn’t have wanted for better parents. I couldn’t have done without you.”

After a “long and brave battle,” her attorneys said, an independent regulator that had denied Mrs. M’s request to take her daughter’s eggs must now reconsider its decision, taking into account the recent ruling.

In a case legal experts have called rare, the United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that there was “sufficient evidence” that the daughter, referenced as “A,” wanted her mother to give birth to and raise her child.

Now, her mother wants to use the frozen eggs — and sperm from a donor — to do just that.

“Naturally, we are delighted with the decision, which follows a long and brave battle to honour the wishes that A clearly expressed to her mother before she died,” her attorneys, with Natalie Gamble Associates, said in a statement.

The judgment superseded a High Court ruling that sided with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, an independent regulator that said in 2014 that the frozen eggs could not be released because the daughter had never provided written consent.

But the agency must now revisit the case.

“The law requires us to consider whether there is sufficient evidence of informed consent,” the agency said Thursday in a statement, according to BBC News. “After looking at the matter in great detail, we decided that there wasn’t, a decision which was supported by the High Court last September.

“Today’s judgment by the Court of Appeal reaffirms the need for informed consent but concludes that there is sufficient evidence of Mr. and Mrs. M’s daughter’s true wishes.”