NATION : Court Overturns Embryo Ruling
The Tennessee Court of Appeals today granted joint custody of seven frozen embryos to a divorced couple, overturning a landmark ruling that had granted custody to the ex-wife.
The intermediate-level appeals court ruled in the divorce case of Junior Lewis Davis of Maryville and his former wife, Mary Sue Davis Stowe, now of Titusville, Fla.
“It would be repugnant and offensive to constitutional principals to order Mary Sue to implant these fertilized ova against her will,” Judge Herschel P. Franks wrote for the three-member court.
“It would be equally repugnant to order Junior to bear the psychological, if not the legal, consequences of paternity against his will.”
The court ruled that both Stowe and Davis should “share an interest in the seven fertilized ova” and should have joint control and an equal voice over their disposition.
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