holding that a mutual change of mind is not required and that agreements entered into at the time of IVF will be enforced “subject to the right of either party to change his or her mind about disposition up to the point of use or destruction of any stored [embryos]”
How later courts described this case
- holding that a mutual change of mind is not required and that agreements entered into at the time of IVF will be enforced “subject to the right of either party to change his or her mind about disposition up to the point of use or destruction of any stored [embryos]”
- agreeing the party wishing to avoid procreation should ordinarily prevail, but “express[ing] no opinion in respect of a case in which a party who has become infertile seeks use of stored [embryos] against the wishes of his or her partner, noting only that the possibility of adoption also may be a consideration, among others, in the court’s assessment”
- expressing “no opinion in respect of a case in which a party who has become infertile seeks use of stored preembryos against the wishes of his or her partner, noting only that the possibility of adoption also may be a consideration, among others, in the court’s assessment”
- resolving issue in favor of party seeking to destroy pre-embryos to avoid procreating despite the other party’s desire to donate the pre-embryos consistent with his religious convictions that the pre-embryos must be protected as human life
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
VERNIERO, J.,
concurring.
I join in the disposition of this case and in all but one aspect of the Court’s opinion. I do not agree with the Court’s suggestion, in dicta, that the right to procreate may depend on adoption as a consideration. Ante at 30, 783 A.2d at 720.
I also write to express my view that the same principles that compel the outcome in this case would permit an infertile party to assert his or her right to use a preembryo against the objections of the other party, if such use were the only means of procreation. *31 In that instance, the balance arguably would weigh in favor of the infertile party absent countervailing factors of greater weight. I do not decide that profound question today, and the Court should not decide it or suggest a result, because it is absent from this case.
Justice ZAZZALI joins in this opinion.