Legal Recognition of Parental Rights to Embryos

My Story

TL;DR: My parental rights to my unborn children were taken away when I got divorced because they were considered property and not people. When frozen embryos are stripped of their humanity, you have situations that arise like mine, where a parent child relationship is not legally recognized, and during a divorce, there are no custody decisions made about the embryos. They are just divided up as property without regard for the fact that if the embryos are transferred, implanted, and born, there is a baby ex-utero, but a parent who no longer has any parental rights because they were taken away at the embryonic stage. I believe no other family should ever have to go through this nightmare. we are before the Texas Supreme Court right now and can make real change. Help me end this inhumanity by donating to my legal defense.

Full Story

8 years ago, I felt like I was living a fairy tale. I met and fell in love with a man while living and working overseas. We got married on the romantic island of Cyprus and spent the first year enjoying wedded bliss. We wanted to start our family and had dreamed of filling our hearts and home with many children together. Those dreams were ripped apart by miscarriage after miscarriage. We came to terms with the reality that we were the 1 in 8 who struggled with infertility. After suffering four miscarriages, and my husband enduring one year of hormone therapy, we were desperate to become parents and realized the only option left was In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). We were fortunate enough to get 7 eggs that fertilized and were of good quality to transfer. Our first transfer did not take and the other 6 embryos were frozen for later transfers. Our second transfer a few months later did result in a pregnancy, but sadly ended in miscarriage. The third time was the charm. We transferred two embryos and both took, resulting in our beautiful twins! Their journey to get here earthside was nothing short of a miracle. They tried to come early at 26 weeks and the doctors thought they wouldn’t stay in longer than 28-30 weeks. I can proudly say they were born at 39 weeks and 1 day and were the talk of all of L&D! What should have been the happiest time of my life, however, quickly turned out to be one of the darkest and most traumatizing.

When we began IVF, I could not have imagined the terror, trauma, and neglect my babies and I would live through in their first year of life. Being a new mom is hard, being a new twin mama–even harder. Harder than either of those was our day-to-day experience with their father. I can’t and won’t go into all those details here. But in a brave and heart-breaking decision, I filed for divorce.

Three years earlier, sitting in the IVF clinic, deciding what to do about our embryos if we divorced, I never could have imagined a scenario where a judge would treat our 3 remaining unborn children (frozen embryos) as property. But that is exactly what happened on June 29th, 2022. A judge divided them up with all of our assets, ignoring and terminating my rights to be a mother to my unborn children by giving or “awarding” them to my ex. The same court who 6 months earlier did not see fit to give my husband more than 13% of time with our current children. My unborn children were denied the right of personhood and I was denied my right to continue to be their mother that day. One thing many people don’t know is that in the state of Texas, even if a mother is choosing to give her child up in adoption, she has the right to consent at every step of the way. Only AFTER a child is born, does she give the final and legal consent to give away her rights to her child. I stood before a judge that day, declaring I did not want to give up my unborn children and never had any intentions to give that right up. Egregiously, the judge took away my rights to be their mother when she awarded my husband our frozen embryos.

Infertility and Legislation in Texas

My journey is not unique or rare. Many women have done this before me and many more after me will choose IVF. 10% of the nation’s fertility clinics reside in the state of Texas (426 to be exact). 12.25% of women in the US have used fertility services and many more have sought them out but found them cost prohibitive. Pew research concluded that 1 in 3 people have received fertility treatments themselves or know someone who has. Despite the fact that couples who struggle with infertility are 3 times more likely to get divorced, there are still no laws in Texas guiding decisions regarding embryos and divorce. That is a significant amount of the population who are affected by the lack of clear legislation. The Dobb’s decision, overturning Roe v. Wade, in conjunction with Texas trigger laws, did not make it any clearer except to define life beginning at fertilization. It did not qualify for fertilization outside a uterus.

It Takes a Village

I can’t do this alone. Appellate cases are very expensive. This case is not just about me–though it directly affects me and my family. We are fighting to see a legal precedence set for the parental rights to embryos in the State of Texas. We are fighting so other families that find themselves in the difficult decision of divorce do not have their unborn children treated as property. Embryos are people, and people cannot be owned. And as such, a parent cannot be forced to relinquish their right to their children without due cause. Specifically, a mother is entitled to the same rights to her children that she would if she was carrying them in her body.

How You Can Help

1. Support my fight financially here by contributing to my legal fund.

2. Spread the word. Share this Gofundme with your friends, family, and anyone you think might be interested. This isn’t just about me – this is about all the babies that may be born from IVF and their families.