Quotes of the Day

In vitro fertilization treatment can be painful and tiring, but for Natallie Evans, it turned out to be devastating. The British woman froze six embryos created with her fiancé, Howard Johnston, in 2001, after she was diagnosed with cancer. After the couple broke up, he legally blocked her from using the embryos, saying he didn't want the burdens of fatherhood.

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg sided with Johnston, upholding a British law that says that either party can revoke consent before the embryos are transferred to the woman's womb. That may or may not be the last word in Evans' fight, but the court's judgment leaves intact a hodgepodge of conflicting laws across Europe. "There is no Europe-wide consensus on this," says Margaret Willson of the European Society of Human Reproduction & Embryology (ESHRE).

Had the couple been treated in Austria, Estonia or Italy, for example, Johnston would have lost his veto once Evans' eggs were fertilized. Germany and Italy ban preimplantation tests that identify gender and inherited conditions, which a number of other European countries allow. Belgium limits the number of embryos to one in the first procedure in women under 36, while about half of the E.U. countries set no legal caps. In Spain, egg and sperm donors can be paid for their contributions, but not in Britain. Most European countries allow embryos to be frozen for five years, but not Germany or Italy; Denmark limits storage to two years.

Such diverging laws kept the court from issuing a blanket ruling. Still, Evans plans to appeal to the court's Grand Chamber because two judges argued that her situation deserved greater consideration. Regardless of how her case turns out, the issue seems likely to come before Europe's highest courts again; a report at ESHRE's conference last year estimated the number of couples in Europe needing fertility treatment could double to 1 in 3 in the next decade.

• ANDREA GERLIN
• A British woman is barred by her former partner from using their frozen embryos, but that doesn't harmonize IVF rights across Europe