ABA Family Legal Guide

Health-Care Law

Specific Issues in Health Care

Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Who owns the embryos produced in the process of in vitro fertilization?

In Virginia, a couple asked their fertility clinic to give them their frozen embryos so that they could try a different doctor and clinic. The clinic refused. The couple sued the clinic and won. The court found the couple did have a quasi-property interest in their embryos. Not all courts are comfortable with declaring embryos as "property." Nevertheless, you have a good chance of getting your embryos when third parties try to interfere. Courts tend to provide parents with some form of property rights to their embryos, such as the rights to possess, use, or donate. Things become much more difficult when the fight is between you and your spouse.