Divorced couple's fight over IVF-created embryos heads to Ohio Supreme Court

She wants their frozen embryos so she can get pregnant. Her ex-husband wants the IVF-created embryos donated to other couples who want children. After a couple divorces, what should happen to their yet-to-be implanted embryos?

That question is before the Ohio Supreme Court in a case that could shed light on how justices interpret the voter-approved reproductive rights constitutional amendment . The amendment protects individuals' rights to make a carry out their own reproductive decisions on abortion or fertility treatments.

The high court agreed to take up the case of a Summit County ex-couple, identified in court filings by the initials R.N. and E.B.N.

The 9th District Court of Appeals sided with the ex-wife, saying her desire to be pregnant outweighs his "procreational-autonomy rights." The ex-husband said the appeals court decision would force him to become an "involuntary parent."

The ex-husband's attorneys said in court filings that the case is about, before any pregnancy occurs, someone can obtain a court order that forces someone else to become a parent. If the appeals decision is allowed to stand, it could put a chill on couples' decisions to use IVF across the state, the ex-husband argues.

The couple married in August 2016 and soon started fertility treatments. IVF resulted in 14 embryos. But before either party contributed genetic material, each signed a contract that said in the event of separation or divorce, neither could use the embryos without permission of the other.

The couple divorced in January 2019 in Summit County. What to do with the embryos became an issue in the divorce. And during the divorce, the wife, who was in her late 30s, was treated for thyroid cancer and told by doctors not to try to become pregnant for a year following her radiation treatment.

The trial judge in the divorce case decided the frozen embryos should be donated to other couples, prompting the ex-wife to take the case to the appeals court.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Divorced couple's fight over IVF-created embryos heads to Ohio Supreme Court