This 60-Year-Old Wants to Carry Her Late Daughter’s Baby: Let’s Discuss

Mrs. M. just won her case in the second-highest court in Britain on Thursday, but the ruling will likely be challenged by The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the British agency that tried to stop Mrs. M. from using the eggs in the first place.

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Here’s the sticking point: Mrs. M. wants to remove the eggs from London and take them to a clinic in New York, where they’ll be matched with sperm from an anonymous donor. The agency is refusing to release them on the grounds that the daughter hasn’t given her consent (because she can’t).

The latest court ruling finds that the fertility organization set the bar too high in determining consent, noting that there is “sufficient evidence” that the daughter actually did want her mother to have and raise her own grandchild.

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“They are never going to let me leave this hospital, Mum; the only way I will get out of here will be in a body bag,” the daughter is quoted by the court as saying. “I want you to carry my babies. I didn’t go through the IVF to save my eggs for nothing. I want you and Dad to bring them up. They will be safe with you. I couldn’t have wanted for better parents. I couldn’t have done without you.”

The court also points out that there is no law in the U.K. that limits the age when a woman can be implanted with eggs that were previously frozen, and any potential ethical questions are pretty much none of the fertility authority’s beeswax.

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Lawyers for Mrs. M. warn that the frozen eggs will “simply be allowed to perish” if their client isn’t allowed to move forward with her daughter’s wishes.

What do you think? Should Mrs. M. be allowed to give birth to her own grandchild? Also, pass the tissues.