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John and Peggy R. of Seattle, Washington, were married in April 1992. When they married, both of them wanted to have children. After several years of trying unsuccessfully to have a child, the couple visited a fertility clinic, where Peggy was induced to produce several eggs. The eggs were then fertilized with John's sperm and several 8-celled embryos were artificially produced in a glass test tube. Peggy then underwent surgery and was implanted with the embryos for a total of five different times! None of the attempts to have a child were successful.

John and Peggy began to have marital problems after a few years. The clinic had frozen 10 of the embryos made by John and Peggy during a happier time in their marriage. Peggy decided to keep the embryos to use in future procedures to try and have a baby. She felt that the embryos were her last chance at being a mother. John, however, decided to never have children with his ex-wife and wished to donate the embryos to research.

What We Need to Know

1. How is it possible for a woman to produce several eggs at one time?
2. When eggs are taken from the mother at the same time, would the potential embryos result in babies who are identical twins? Why or why not?
3. What are the differences between the procedure described in this case and the cloning of Dolly, the sheep?
4. Which one of the donors should be the "owner" of the embryos?

Both John and Peggy had signed a consent form at the fertility clinic that stated that any unused embryos would be donated for research, but the embryos could not be released without the consent of both donors. The agreement said, in the case of divorce, ownership would be determined in a property settlement or decided by a court.

The potentially precedent-setting dispute over the fate of the frozen embryos has ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court. The nation's highest court is scheduled to hear the case. The case will decide whether the frozen embryos deserve the protection received by a fetus or that of mere property. The court decision could affect as many as 20,000 frozen embryos across the country!

What We Need to Know

1. The frozen embryos are only about 4 to 8 cells in size. Do you think that a frozen embryo should be regarded legally as a human life form?
2. Do you regard the frozen embryos as property or a fetus with the same rights as a growing individual in the womb?
3. If you were on the jury, what would be your opinion on what should be done with the 10 frozen embryos of the divorced couple?

John won in Washington's lower courts. They ruled that the embryos were not a human life, but the state court ruled in favor of Peggy. The state court said that once the sperm and ovum are united, a human life has begun, and it is the woman's decision whether or not to let it proceed.

Assignment

Write a reaction paper which discusses the following issues.

1. How is the state court's ruling about a woman's choice similar to the choice for abortion?
2. Are the policies consistent?
3. Can you think of any other examples where the legal system is not keeping up with the new technologies? What are they?
4. Put yourself in the place of either Peggy or John and make an argument for your case.

RESOURCES

Cohen, Adam. 1998. Test-tube tug of war. Time. Vol. 151(13):65.

Harden, Blain. N.Y. high court to decide fate of embryos that survived split. Washington Post. Wed., April 1, 1998. p. A2.

Nash, Madeline. 1998. The case for cloning. Time. Vol. 151 (5):81.

Anonymous. 1998. The ice babies. Time. Vol. 151 ( 8):65.

http://www.advancedfertility.com/cryo.htm