A woman in the U.K. has won an appeal to use the frozen eggs of her daughter, who died five years ago. The 60-year-old woman was previously denied permission to take the eggs to a clinic in the United States, have them fertilized with donor sperm, and carry and raise her grandchild.
The U.K.’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said in 2014 that the daughter’s eggs could not be released from a storage facility because she had not given her full written consent before she died from bowel cancer at 28. The mother lost a court case on the matter last year but was granted permission to appeal.
At the Court of Appeal in London before a panel of three judges, her lawyers argued that the daughter approved of the plan and that “all available evidence” showed that she wanted her mother to bear her child after her death. The Court of Appeal agreed.
The HFEA said that the ruling “reaffirms the need for informed consent but concludes that there is sufficient evidence of Mr and Mrs M’s daughter’s true wishes.” They said they will reconsider the request as soon as possible.
