{"id":450,"date":"2014-12-05T23:46:03","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T23:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/?p=450"},"modified":"2021-12-29T21:37:40","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T21:37:40","slug":"the-battle-for-frozen-embryos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/the-battle-for-frozen-embryos\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0The battle for frozen embryos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last spring, a judge awarded Karla Dunston, a resident of Chicago, custody of frozen embryos. The judgment spurred an appeal. Standing on the opposite side of the appellate courtroom trying to overturn this ruling is Dunston\u2019s former boyfriend, Jacob Szafranski.<\/p>\n

Before diving into the present, here is the backstory.<\/p>\n

These embryos were frozen a few years ago.\u00a0 What prompted the decision was Dunston\u2019s lymphoma diagnosis. \u00a0Realizing her cancer treatments could\u00a0trigger infertility, she turned to her \u201cthen\u201d boyfriend, Szafranski, for help. He agreed to donate sperm.<\/p>\n

Lauren Jiggetts<\/a>, a reporter for NBC Chicago quotes the former boyfriend stating, \u201cWe were in a romantic relationship and we had known each other for a while, and of course I was concerned about supporting her in whatever way I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

One year later, the relationship ended and Szafranski had a change of heart about the embryos.<\/p>\n

Szafranski continues to state in this article from May, \u201cIn reading the consent and deciding to go ahead with everything, I really thought that was what my understanding of the situation was, that my consent was needed at the time of their use.\u201d He continued, \u201cLife changes, your feelings on things changes, your position on the world changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IVF\"<\/a>Since this time, Szafranski and Dunston have been entangled in a legal battle.<\/p>\n

In Jiggetts\u2019 piece, she quoted a portion of the judge\u2019s ruling which drove the\u00a0appeal.\u00a0 The judge said that Dunston\u2019s, \u201cdesire to have a biological child in the face of the impossibility of having one without using the embryos outweighs Jacob\u2019s privacy concerns, which are now moot.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also revealed that Dunston had no intention whatsoever to request any financial support from Szafranski.<\/p>\n

Her attorney, Abram Moore stated, \u201cShe simply does not want him to stand in the way of her very last chance to have her own biological children.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the flipside, Szafranski claims this legal battle has nothing to do with\u00a0money or the threat of financial support.\u00a0 His objection leans in the direction of moral grounds claiming how he does not want a \u201cchild brought into this world,\u201d against his will.<\/p>\n

Now, the Illinois Appellate Court heard the case.<\/p>\n

NBC Chicago reporter, Sarah Schulte<\/a>, recently wrote in her article, \u201cSzafranski\u2019s legal argument before the Illinois Appellate Court is based on a consent form Szafranski and Dunston signed at the fertility clinic the day after he verbally agreed to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schulte quotes his attorney Brian Schroeder saying, \u201cThis form has a provision that states no use can be made of embryos without the consent of both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunston\u2019s legal representatives are standing their ground.<\/p>\n

According to Schulte, the appellate court heard their side of the argument highlighting, \u201cwhile Szafranski has the right to change his mind about whether to donate sperm, he chose to donate it for the purpose of helping Dunston have children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schulte continued, \u201cHer lawyers say Szafranski promised Dunston several times that she could use the embryos for that purpose and insist she is not forcing Szafranski into parenthood, and is asking Dunston be declared a sperm donor with no legal or financial obligations to any resulting child.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a ruling is on its way, here\u2019s my point of view.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Szafranski, or anyone, should be forced to be a parent.\u00a0 Conversely, since they aren\u2019t married, isn’t he a sperm donor without any rights? \u00a0For example, in California, if you’re unmarried you need\u00a0to have an\u00a0agreement in writing that you\u00a0are a parent. If you don’t, you aren’t.<\/p>\n

A good example of this is the Jason Patric case. In this situation, they were unmarried and they didn’t have a written agreement that Patric was not a sperm donor. However, after the baby was born, Patric spent time with the child and his girlfriend, making an argument he is\u00a0a parent under “presumed” parenthood.<\/p>\n

In this case, we are dealing with embryos, not a child.<\/p>\n

The court also should look at the \u201cintent\u201d of the parties when the embryos were created.\u00a0 To me, it appears as if it was Szafranski\u2019s intent was to donate his sperm to\u00a0his former girlfriend so that\u00a0a pregnancy could be achieved and a child born.<\/p>\n

It appears that the\u00a0consent forms stated\u00a0they need their permission to use the embryos. \u00a0I do have to say that this is a bit unusual because typically embryos can be used for their intended purpose.\u00a0 And here, it was to achieve a pregnancy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be very interesting to see how the appellate court will rule on this case.<\/p>\n

Legal experts are calling it a case which may influence a national precedent. And I have a feeling it will do just that.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last spring, a judge awar [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,10,1],"tags":[41,79,85,117,125],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fertility-2","category-infertility-2","category-ivf","category-uncategorized","tag-cancer","tag-embryos","tag-fertility","tag-infertility","tag-ivf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}