No winners as emotional case ends
Thursday November 16 2006
Along with "Is there a higher being?", it is the key philosophical question that defines us as analytical human beings searching for the meaning of the universe.
And, despite the advances of medicine and science, the debate that has raged for centuries was, unsurprisingly, no closer to being resolved in the High Court yesterday.
There were no winners in this most ethically difficult of cases to come before the courts in many years, with a woman left mourning the children who might have been and with the inevitable bitterness between the former couple after the emotional legal battle.
What had once been of the most intimate and private nature between the couple - the decision to go through the stressful IVF process in the hope of having a child - has become a debate of national importance, every facet of the case dissected and preserved in the legal annals.
The strain of the ordeal yesterday showed plainly on the face of Dublin woman Mary Roche (41) as she sat along the side of the courtroom, just a few feet away from her estranged husband, Thomas (44).
Dressed in a smart tweed jacket, polo neck and trousers, her hair neatly coiffed, Ms Roche pressed her hands together tightly as though praying as she listened, scarcely breathing, to Mr Justice Brian McGovern deliver his judgment.
The complex nature of the case was acknowledged by the judge as he summed up his 26-page judgment, saying it was not possible for the court to determine when human life began and that such a question went beyond the realms of science and medicine.
But he did not believe that the use of the phrase "the unborn" had ever been envisaged as anything other than the foetus or embryo in the womb by those who had voted on the 1983 Constitutional amendment.
It was up to the Oireachtas to decide what steps should be taken to establish the legal status of embryos in vitro, he said.
Ms Roche clearly found it difficult to maintain her composure as the thrust of his findings became more apparent and she blinked repeatedly as it became clear her claim to have the three frozen embryos returned to her was rejected.
If her former husband felt relief at being spared the prospect of fathering children against his will, there was no trace of it on his face. Having come so far down the legal road, it is probably hard to feel anything other than numbed and saddened by the bruising process.
It is a sad ending to a saga which began with such hope four years ago, when the Roches had IVF treatment resulting in the birth of a daughter.
Mr Justice McGovern said the courts had no business in intervening in what happens to the frozen embryos stored at the Sims Clinic in Rathgar and he understood the clinic had decided nothing would be done regarding the embryos for one year.
Counsel for the clinic assured the court they would do nothing until they had received the consent of both parties.
What hope remains for Ms Roche lies in the possibility of an appeal. Ms Roche's solicitor Alan Daveron said it would take "a few days" for his client to reflect, go through the lengthy judgment and decide whether or not to proceed. She was "very disappointed".
