News | The Law May Be ‘Rigid,’ but It Should Not Be Heartless: Judge Preserves Embryos for 14 Families
The UK High Court has ruled that more than a dozen fertility patients may continue storing their embryos, eggs, or sperm despite failing to renew written consent within the statutory 10-year period. The judge made clear that people should not lose the possibility of parenthood “because of the ticking of a clock.”
The case involved 15 sets of patients who did not renew their consent forms on time because of procedural errors, including some who had undergone cancer treatment. Their lawyers asked the London court to confirm that the biological material could still legally be stored and used after the consent period expired in June 2025. In some cases, the issue arose because fertility clinics failed to notify patients of the renewal requirement in time.
In this unusual legal situation, the applications were unopposed: the clinics involved, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and the Health Secretary raised no objections.
Mrs Justice Morgan ruled that the biological material could continue to be stored and used in 14 of the 15 cases. She noted that although the legal framework governing human fertilisation and embryos was “quite rigid,” that rigidity did not exist “for rigidity’s sake.”
In her judgment, she said: “What should matter is a person’s genuine consent, not an unalterable date. I find it difficult to conclude that Parliament intended the possibility of parenthood to be lost when the clock strikes midnight—not the proverbial ticking of the ‘biological clock,’ but the moment existing consent expires at midnight on a given date and the opportunity disappears, regardless of the circumstances.”
Under UK law, fertility clinics must obtain written consent from clients every 10 years to continue storing their biological material. The rule is intended to prevent cells from being stored or used without a person’s knowledge or authorization. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the law allowed a two-year extension because of treatment delays and difficulty accessing services, automatically applying to people still using services on July 1, 2020.
However, the temporary extension caused some confusion, and some users were not reminded to renew in time, causing their consent to lapse.
The only unsuccessful case differed legally. Mrs Justice Morgan noted that the couple had not originally consented to storing one embryo, but the clinic accidentally preserved it after using the wrong consent form. The couple later wished to use the embryo. The judge found that this was not a “renewal” of existing consent but a “change of consent.” She said: “On their own account, there was never consent available to renew. Allowing them to change their minds because the clinic stored the embryo under an incorrect consent form would not be a renewal, but a change from their clearly expressed original wishes.”
The ruling preserved the possibility of future parenthood for most of the affected families and drew a more flexible boundary between the law and reproductive rights.
News | The Law May Be ‘Rigid,’ but It Should Not Be Heartless: Judge Preserves Embryos for 14 Families
News | The Law May Be ‘Rigid,’ but It Should Not Be Heartless: Judge Preserves Embryos for 14 Families
The UK High Court has ruled that more than a dozen fertility patients may continue storing their embryos, eggs, or sperm despite failing to renew written consent within the statutory 10-year period. The judge made clear that people should not lose the possibility of parenthood “because of the ticking of a clock.”
The case involved 15 sets of patients who did not renew their consent forms on time because of procedural errors, including some who had undergone cancer treatment. Their lawyers asked the London court to confirm that the biological material could still legally be stored and used after the consent period expired in June 2025. In some cases, the issue arose because fertility clinics failed to notify patients of the renewal requirement in time.
In this unusual legal situation, the applications were unopposed: the clinics involved, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and the Health Secretary raised no objections.
Mrs Justice Morgan ruled that the biological material could continue to be stored and used in 14 of the 15 cases. She noted that although the legal framework governing human fertilisation and embryos was “quite rigid,” that rigidity did not exist “for rigidity’s sake.”
In her judgment, she said: “What should matter is a person’s genuine consent, not an unalterable date. I find it difficult to conclude that Parliament intended the possibility of parenthood to be lost when the clock strikes midnight—not the proverbial ticking of the ‘biological clock,’ but the moment existing consent expires at midnight on a given date and the opportunity disappears, regardless of the circumstances.”
Under UK law, fertility clinics must obtain written consent from clients every 10 years to continue storing their biological material. The rule is intended to prevent cells from being stored or used without a person’s knowledge or authorization. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the law allowed a two-year extension because of treatment delays and difficulty accessing services, automatically applying to people still using services on July 1, 2020.
However, the temporary extension caused some confusion, and some users were not reminded to renew in time, causing their consent to lapse.
The only unsuccessful case differed legally. Mrs Justice Morgan noted that the couple had not originally consented to storing one embryo, but the clinic accidentally preserved it after using the wrong consent form. The couple later wished to use the embryo. The judge found that this was not a “renewal” of existing consent but a “change of consent.” She said: “On their own account, there was never consent available to renew. Allowing them to change their minds because the clinic stored the embryo under an incorrect consent form would not be a renewal, but a change from their clearly expressed original wishes.”
The ruling preserved the possibility of future parenthood for most of the affected families and drew a more flexible boundary between the law and reproductive rights.
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