Phoenix woman fights to keep frozen embryos
Ruby Torres is coming to terms with the fact that she may never give birth to her own child after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled she must donate her seven frozen embryos to someone else.
"It hurts very much to know that they won't be with me. That I may never see them grow," Torres said.
She froze her eggs in 2014 after she was diagnosed with cancer. At the time, she and her now ex-husband signed an agreement saying both parties would have to give "express, written consent" before one could use the embryos to achieve a pregnancy. If the couple divorced, they agreed to donate the embryos.
When the couple did divorce in 2017, her ex-husband refused to let Torres use the embryos.
"No one should be forced to become a father with his ex-wife against his wishes," said attorney Eric Fraser.
The court agreed, saying Torres must follow the contract she signed. But her case propelled Arizona lawmakers to create a first in the nation law, which now says that in the case of divorce, frozen embryos will go to the spouse who intends to use them to have a baby. But the law won't help Torres because it's not retroactive.
"It hurts, but I'm also glad that maybe somebody else who wants the opportunity to have a child will get to have one," Torres said.
She now has 15 days to decide if she wants to take her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
