{"id":285875,"date":"2023-02-27T14:38:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T20:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=285875"},"modified":"2023-02-24T18:16:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T00:16:31","slug":"personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband&#8217;s &#8216;property&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Caroline Antoun and her now ex-husband are in a legal battle in Texas over three of the seven embryos they created during the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. During their divorce, a judge ruled that the embryos are the property of her ex-husband; however, Antoun sees them as people and believes post-<em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> laws support this.<\/p>\n<p>After welcoming twins through IVF, the remaining three embryos were kept frozen in case the couple decided to have more children. The former couple&#8217;s IVF contract, typically signed before a fertility clinic will begin the IVF process, states that in the event of divorce, the embryos would go to her ex-husband.<\/p>\n<p>Antoun <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfaa.com\/article\/news\/local\/texas-abortion-ban-denton-woman-arguing-embryos-are-people\/287-18570931-4ee1-4075-b9a5-5a32cab25be5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explained<\/a> that in hindsight, she did not understand the gravity of that contract. She said she also expected the Supreme Court decision in <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women&#8217;s Health Organization<\/em> overturning <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>, handed down just five days before the divorce trial began,\u00a0to impact the judge&#8217;s decision regarding her embryos.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 1px solid #e6e6e6;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wfaa.com\/embeds\/video\/responsive\/287-463a63e5-98a3-4354-a4c9-1d2547bef42e\/iframe\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe said, the laws are going to change. So, let\u2019s be mindful of that,\u201d Antoun explained of the argument she and her attorneys made to the judge. But the judge upheld the IVF contract and the embryos went to Antoun&#8217;s ex-husband as his property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really was clear with the Dobbs decision and with Texas being a trigger law state that very clearly defined life as beginning at fertilization,\u201d Antoun said. \u201cFrozen embryos are a fertilized egg.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, the end of <em>Roe<\/em> did not change how frozen embryos and the IVF process are handled \u2014 even in states like <a href=\"https:\/\/statutes.capitol.texas.gov\/DocViewer.aspx?DocKey=HS%2fHS.170A&amp;Phrases=fertilization&amp;HighlightType=1&amp;ExactPhrase=False&amp;QueryText=fertilization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas<\/a> where most preborn children (from the point of fertilization) are now protected from abortion. Seema Mohapatra, a professor at SMU Deman School of Law, and one of the U.S.&#8217;s leading experts on IVF law, explained, &#8220;Frozen embryos are considered property in Texas, just like any other kind of personal property, like your car.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The fall of <em>Roe<\/em> did not change this and Texas law protecting human life from fertilization only applies to embryos in the womb, not frozen in a lab.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we say we value life and the whole idea of overturning Roe v. Wade and the trigger laws said we\u2019re trying to protect life, but we\u2019re still treating life over here as if its property that can be sold and bartered and done away with, that doesn\u2019t match up at all,\u201d Antoun said.<\/p>\n<p>Texas legislators have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2022\/07\/13\/texas-ivf-treatments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attempted<\/a> to pass laws protecting frozen embryos and treating them as persons, but have failed to do so. Mohapatra thinks this is because such a law could affect fertility doctors and clinics, ultimately regulating IVF. Currently, embryos are <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ivf-destroys-embryos-higher-rate-abortion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">destroyed<\/a> more often than they are implanted, meaning fertility clinics and doctors are <em>knowingly destroying human lives<\/em> \u2014 but those lives have no protection under the law so there are no consequences. A law protecting all embryos would change that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we\u2019ve seen in Louisiana and Mississippi \u2013 two states where personhood provisions were proposed \u2014 one of the reasons they failed was these doctors said we\u2019re going to leave your area and no one is going to have access to this care,\u201d said Mohapatra.<\/p>\n<p>Antoun has filed an appeal to the judge&#8217;s decision, meaning that her three embryos can not be destroyed, donated, or given away in the meantime. She is also raising funds for her legal fight to recognize embryos as people.<\/p>\n<p>She <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/legal-fight-to-recognize-embryos-as-people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>, &#8220;A judge divided [the embryos] up with all of our assets, ignoring and terminating my rights to be a mother to my unborn children by giving or &#8216;awarding&#8217; them to my ex. The same court who 6 months earlier did not see fit to give my husband more than 13% of time with our current children. My unborn children were\u00a0denied the right of personhood\u00a0and I was denied my right to continue to be their mother that day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/give.liveaction.org\/general-donation\/?utm_source=lan&amp;utm_medium=display&amp;utm_campaign=monthly&amp;utm_content=article\"><i><strong>Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Caroline Antoun and her now ex-husband are in a legal battle in Texas over three of the seven embryos they created during the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. During their divorce, a judge ruled that the embryos are the property of her ex-husband; however, Antoun sees them as people and believes post-Roe v. Wade laws [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":286101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband&#039;s &#039;property&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Caroline Antoun and her now ex-husband are in a legal battle in Texas over three of the seven embryos they created during the IVF process.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband&#039;s &#039;property&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Caroline Antoun and her now ex-husband are in a legal battle in Texas over three of the seven embryos they created during the IVF process.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-27T20:38:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-25T00:16:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/IVF-custody-case-caroline-antoun.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\"},\"headline\":\"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband&#8217;s &#8216;property&#8217;\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-27T20:38:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-25T00:16:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/\"},\"wordCount\":692,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Human Interest\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/\",\"name\":\"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband's 'property'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-27T20:38:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-25T00:16:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"Caroline Antoun and her now ex-husband are in a legal battle in Texas over three of the seven embryos they created during the IVF process.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband&#8217;s &#8216;property&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\",\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Flanders\"},\"description\":\"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband's 'property'","description":"Caroline Antoun and her now ex-husband are in a legal battle in Texas over three of the seven embryos they created during the IVF process.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband's 'property'","og_description":"Caroline Antoun and her now ex-husband are in a legal battle in Texas over three of the seven embryos they created during the IVF process.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2023-02-27T20:38:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-25T00:16:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/IVF-custody-case-caroline-antoun.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nancy Flanders","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Flanders","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/"},"author":{"name":"Nancy Flanders","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef"},"headline":"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband&#8217;s &#8216;property&#8217;","datePublished":"2023-02-27T20:38:35+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-25T00:16:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/"},"wordCount":692,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Human Interest","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/","name":"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband's 'property'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-02-27T20:38:35+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-25T00:16:31+00:00","description":"Caroline Antoun and her now ex-husband are in a legal battle in Texas over three of the seven embryos they created during the IVF process.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personhood-embryos-ex-husband-property\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Woman seeks personhood for her embryos as judge deems them ex-husband&#8217;s &#8216;property&#8217;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef","name":"Nancy Flanders","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Flanders"},"description":"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285875"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285875"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286102,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285875\/revisions\/286102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}