Woman complains about her oocytes being released

Artificial insemination: woman complains about the release of her eggs. A young widow complains before the Higher Regional Court Rostock (OLG) on the publication of her fertilized egg cells. She had stored them in a clinic in Neubrandenburg before her husband died in a traffic accident.

(19.04.2010) A young widow complains before the Higher Regional Court Rostock (OLG) about the publication of her fertilized egg cells. She had stored them in a clinic in Neubrandenburg before her husband died in a traffic accident. Now, the young woman from the region of Neubrandenburg demands the publication of the material resulting from artificial insemination. For in August of last year, the regional court in Neubrandenburg, the publication was prohibited. The court justified its decision by stating that there was otherwise a breach of the Embryo Protection Act. The Embryo Protection Act came into force in 1991 to regulate in vitro fertilization and should take into account the respect for human dignity and life in relation to economic and scientific interests. Among other things, the law prohibits the fertilization of egg cells with the seeds of the deceased.

The young woman, however, argues that her husband died only after fertilization by a motorcycle accident. Then the ova were not, of course, artificially fertilized with the seed of a deceased. Thus, a legal gap is revealed, which must now close the OLG Rostock.

Basically, the Rostock judges have to decide in the chamber of the Higher Regional Court whether the cells that are currently frozen in Neubrandenburg can already be regarded as fertilized or only at the moment when they have thawed. Not an easy task, as there has not been such a case in Germany before. (Thorsten Fischer, Naturopath Osteopathy)

Image: P. Kirchhoff / Pixelio.de