PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsFrance allows export of dead man's sperm

BioNews

France allows export of dead man's sperm

Published 19 September 2016 posted in News and appears in BioNews 855

Author

James Brooks

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.

A Spanish woman has been allowed to have her dead husband's cryopreserved sperm transported from France to Spain despite a French ban on the exportation of gametes for posthumous insemination...

A Spanish woman has been allowed to have her dead husband's cryopreserved sperm transported from France to Spain despite a French ban on the exportation of gamete for posthumous insemination.

The decision from the State Council overrules an earlier ruling of a lower tribunal which denied Mariana Gomez-Turri access to her husband's sperm.

Gomez-Turri had been living in France with her husband, Nicola Turri, when he developed lymphatic cancer. Prior to chemotherapy, Turri had his sperm cryopreserved so that he could still have children with Gomez-Turri should the treatment make him infertile. The treatment was unsuccessful, however, and Turri, who was Italian, died in July 2015.

After his death, Gomez-Turri returned to Spain. She had hoped to use the sperm for IVF as posthumous insemination is legal there, but the French tribunal's decision went against her.

However, the State Council said that if French law - which prohibits both posthumous insemination and export of gamete for that purpose - were to be applied in this case, it would jeopardise 'in a manifestly excessive way, the claimant's right to respect for his private and family life'.

The State Council nonetheless maintained that French law on posthumous insemination was compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The council also related that Gomez-Turri had returned to Spain 'without the intention to bypass the French law' but then faced 'a situation in which the exportation of the gametes stored in France was the only way for her to exercise her right under Spanish law'.

David Simhon, a lawyer instructed by Gomez-Turri, said that the decision was 'extraordinary', in the sense of being out-of-the-ordinary, and was therefore appropriate considering his client's 'exceptional situation'. Simhon added that, following the decision, Gomez-Turri hoped for the transport of Turri's gametes to occur 'in the shortest possible time, in the best possible conditions'.

Related Articles

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
27 September 2017 • 2 minutes read

Australian court mulls woman's bid to use dead boyfriend's sperm

by Shaoni Bhattacharya

An Australian court is considering whether a woman can use her dead partner's sperm to have a baby...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
Comment
12 July 2016 • 4 minutes read

A victory for consent — but what about the welfare of the child?

by Kriss Fearon

A couple whose daughter died of cancer, leaving frozen eggs in storage, has recently won the right to have their request for export reconsidered by the HFEA. There are a number of troubling features of the case which deserve proper scrutiny...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
Comment
5 July 2016 • 3 minutes read

The posthumous use of sperm - a sorry tale

by Emma Nottingham

The case of Samantha Jeffries - a widow who is trying to save the embryos she created with her husband before his death - holds lessons both for fertility clinics and for the HFEA...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
News
28 June 2016 • 2 minutes read

Widow takes fight over frozen embryos to High Court

by Ryan Ross

The widow of a Falklands veteran is going to the High Court in an attempt to stop the couple's frozen embryos from being destroyed...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
News
20 June 2016 • 2 minutes read

Parents to fight access to dead son's sperm

by Chee Hoe Low

The parents of a dead Australian man whose sperm has been cryopreserved have said that they will block any attempts by his fiancée to use his sperm in an IVF attempt...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
24 April 2015 • 1 minute read

French court grants lesbian adoption after appeal

by Kirsty Oswald

A French appeals court has granted a woman the right to adopt a child her wife conceived overseas via artificial insemination...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
29 September 2014 • 2 minutes read

French same-sex couples allowed to adopt children conceived via IVF

by James Brooks

France's top civil court, the Court of Cassation, has ruled that children conceived via assisted reproduction overseas can be adopted by same-sex parents...

Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
Reviews
10 February 2014 • 4 minutes read

Film Review: Fonzy

by James Brooks

Fonzy doesn't so much apply the formula of sperm-donor comedy 'Starbuck' as drop it like a concrete slab on an entirely different cultural context...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Scotland expands IVF on the NHS

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.

Find out how you can advertise here
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
13 June 2022 • 2 minutes read

Drop in diversity of blood stem cells leads to old-age health issues

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Placenta and organ formation observed in mouse embryo models

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Complex structures of the human heart bioengineered

8 August 2022 • 1 minute read

Brain tumour gene also linked to childhood cancers

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Lower hormone doses may improve IVF egg quality

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Boosting muscle cell production of gene therapy proteins

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856