A woman’s ability to have children outweighs her ex-husband’s interest in not procreating, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled in an issue of first impression in which it awarded the ex-wife 13 frozen pre-embryos as part of the couple’s equitable distribution in their divorce.
The court adopted a “balance the interests” test in determining the wife, who decided to delay her breast cancer treatment and freeze the embryos so she would still be able to have children even if chemotherapy sterilized her, had a greater interest in the embryos post-divorce than did the husband who had a child with another woman and wanted the embryos destroyed.
