The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the rights of an infertile British woman have not been infringed by judgments from UK courts that she is not entitled to use her frozen embryos.
Natallie Evans had wanted to use six frozen embryos to have a child, despite opposition from the man who provided the sperm.
She spent years in the courts seeking access to the embryos but the British High Court and Court of Appeal both ruled she was not entitled to them because her former partner had withdrawn his consent for them to be used.
The Strasbourg court said in its judgment that the use of IVF treatment gave rise to sensitive moral and ethical issues against a background of fast-moving medical and scientific developments.
It added that the questions raised by Ms Evans' case touched on
areas where there was no clear common ground in Europe.
Ms Evans, who can appeal against the decision, said she was very disappointed, but as determined as ever to try and change her former lover's mind.
The court said it had great sympathy for her plight, recognising that she would be deprived of the ability to give birth to her own child.
However, it found that even in the exceptional circumstances of this case, the absence of a power to override a genetic parent's withdrawal of consent was such as to upset the fair balance required by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
