Fertility ruling correct, says clinic boss

Apr 11 2007 By Gary Marks, Birmingham Mail

A MIDLAND fertility expert today backed a court decision not to allow a cancer patient to use her frozen embryos.

Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services, in Aldridge, spoke out after the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights denied Natallie Evans her "last chance" to become a mother.

The 35-year-old from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, broke down in tears as she heard she would never become a mother.

Former partner Howard Johnston had asked for the remaining frozen embryos to be destroyed when their relationship failed.

Dr Lockwood said that if the judges had ruled in Ms Evans' favour it would only benefit a minority.

"The issue here is what we've said all along, is that Natallie should have been advised to freeze some of her eggs rather than create the embryos.

"This is another example of why egg freezing is a good idea, not just for cancer patients or the 'Bridget Jones' generation, but women who need to preserve their fertility and are not in a committed relationship.

"This decision was almost inevitable. If the result gone the other way it would've driven a coach and horses through the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, so ultimately it was the right one.

Ms Evans lost her fight in the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, sitting in Strasbourg, France, following appeals from the High Court in London, to become a mother using embryos that were frozen before she was left infertile by cancer therapy.

Following yesterday's ruling, Ms Evans said: "I am distraught at the court's decision toda. It is very hard for me to accept that the embryos will now be destroyed and I will never become a mother," she said.

"While a lot has been said about the rights of Mr Johnston, what I was fighting for was my right to be a mother and the rights of the embryos.

"I would ask Howard to consider whether he could ever permit me to have the children I so dearly long for, and which he was happy to consent to when the procedure took place to create these embryos."

Asked directly if she would make a last-ditch appeal to Mr Johnston, she added: "I have pleaded with him before and it has not worked, now there is nothing I can say to him any more. Last time I pleaded with him and asked him, 'please re-think' and he didn't. He said nothing is going to change his mind."

The Grand Chamber justices, said the main dilemma facing Ms Evans and Mr Johnston was their interests were 'entirely irreconcilable".

The embryos are likely be destroyed within 28 days.