British pro-life group calls for ban on in vitro fertilization

Published: 2003-10-03

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- A British pro-life organization has called for a ban on in vitro fertilization after a High Court ruling that said frozen embryos must be destroyed unless both parties consented to their use. Jack Scarisbrick, chairman of the pro-life organization Life, said the case was "another example of the mess" caused by in vitro fertilization. In vitro fertilization "creates moral and practical dilemmas to which the only response has to be to ban the procedure altogether," he said in a statement. The court ruled Oct. 1 that the frozen embryos of two divorced couples would have to be destroyed out of respect for the rights of the former husbands of two British women. Justice Nicholas Wall said that while he was sympathetic to the plight of the two women, Natallie Evans, 31, and Lorraine Hadley, 38, their former husbands had to give their consent in order for the embryos to be used. The women appealed the ruling, delaying destruction of the embryos by 28 days.

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