Mimi Lee holds her dog Toshi at her loft in San Francisco. A California court said Wednesday, Nobv, 18, 2015, that Lee and her ex-husband, Stephen Findley, must abide by an agreement they made to destroy five frozen embryos if they got a divorce. A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled tentatively Wednesday that the agreement trumps the womanís desire to now keep the embryos. The embryos were being held at the University of California, San Francisco, which in accordance with state law gave Lee and Findley a consent agreement before fertility treatments in which both said they would like the embryos thawed and discarded in case they divorced, according to court documents.(Photo: Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
A California judge ruled Wednesday that a woman must adhere to an agreement she made with her ex-husband to destroy five frozen embryos if the couple divorced.
Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo ruled that the embryos must be “thawed and discarded,”
according to the court documents.
“It is a disturbing consequence of modern biological technology that the fate of nascent human life, which the embryos in this case represent, must be determined in a court by reference to cold legal principles,”
Massullo wrote in the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>83-page decision.
Mimi Lee and her ex-husband Stephen Findley froze five embryos in 2010 while the couple<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>married. The couple signed an agreement that they would destroy the embryos if they divorced, which they did in 2013.
Lee has maintained that cancer made it hard to get pregnant, and the embryos are her only shot at having a child, AP reported.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Findley<span style="color: Red;">*</span>argued that if Lee was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>successful in using the embryos, she might use the child to get money from him, according to the ruling.
Massullo said the ruling reflected the original intentions of both Lee and Findley. Under California law, those who are seeking fertility treatment are given a consent agreement before treatment specifying what they would like to do<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the case of divorce,
AP reported.
The embryos were held at the University of California, San Francisco.
The case is similar to
Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara’s legal battle with her former fiance<span style="color: Red;">*</span>over
whether he is able to use their<span style="color: Red;">*</span>frozen embryos without her consent.
Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
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