Widower wins right to have a baby with dead wife’s embryo
A MAN whose wife died in pregnancy yesterday won his High Court battle to have a child using an embryo they created through IVF.
Ted Jennings, 38, lost Fern-Marie Choya three years ago when her womb ruptured while she was carrying their twin girls.
The couple had made a number of IVF attempts and still had an embryo created using his sperm and his 40-yearold wife’s egg. Mr Jennings then sought permission from judges to have a baby after his wife’s death.
That meant putting the couple’s
‘The process was far from clear’
embryo inside a surrogate mother, who would give birth to the child.
The application was opposed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which argued it would be unlawful because of a lack of written consent from Miss Choya.
But, in a ruling yesterday, Mrs Justice Theis said she was ‘satisfied’ that Miss Choya would have agreed to the use of the embryo in the event of her death.
The judge concluded she had not been allowed sufficient opportunity to give her consent in writing because a form completed during the IVF process was ‘far from clear’.
The HFEA was told it might want to consider reviewing the wording of the form. Mr Jennings’ applicatwo tion was considered at a hearing in London in May. He met his wife in 2007 after she moved to the UK from Trinidad. They married in 2009 but struggled to conceive. Three cycles of IVF treatment followed in 2013 and 2014 without success, and Miss Choya suffered miscarriages. The couple had further IVF cycles in 2017 and 2018, remortgaging their home to pay for them and Miss Choya became pregnant in November 2018.
The judge said the accountant died ‘tragically and without warning’ in February 2019, just 18 weeks into her pregnancy.
Mr Jennings, who is an investment manager from Highbury in north London, said he and his wife discussed what should happen if either died, and she was ‘adamant’ her twin girls should be saved in a choice between her and them.
The court heard evidence from one of Miss Choya’s four sisters, who said she ‘wholeheartedly’ believed she would want Mr Jennings to use the frozen embryo to have a child. The judge said the case would not open the floodgates to similar legal actions because it was a ‘limited situation’ where a fair opportunity to express consent had not been offered.
A spokesman for the HFEA said: ‘This is a tragic case and the HFEA continues to have every sympathy for Mr Jennings.
‘The Act of Parliament which governs fertility and embryology in the UK is clear that signed written consent is always required in such cases. The risk today is that this decision will undermine that position, and diminish the protection it gives to a person’s express wishes about the use of their embryos after their death.
‘We will carefully consider the judgment before deciding whether to appeal.’