School of Law Associate Professor Benjamin Carpenter recently talked to Michigan Public Radio about a Michigan Supreme Court hearing concerning legal rights over embryos.
From the story:
Last week, the Michigan Supreme Court held a hearing on a case involving a divorced couple who could not agree on what should happen to their remaining embryo.
The case in question involves Sarah and David Markiewicz, who turned to egg donation from Sarah’s sister and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to have children. ...
It would not be unusual if the court were to side in favor of David’s interest, but they should examine their implicit bias before they do, said Ben Carpenter, an associate professor of law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Carpenter’s scholarship on the effects of assisted reproductive technologies in estate planning and family law has been widely cited in Sarah’s arguments filed in court.
“In 18 of the first 20 cases, the court sided with the parties trying to prevent the use,” Carpenter said. “And in the great majority of those cases, it was the former husband or the man that was trying the use of the embryo.”
