Ellie Anderson died suddenly in July aged 16. Now, her mother Louise is launching a legal bid to stop her sperm from being destroyed so that she can create a grandchild.
“Ellie’s
biggest desire was to be a mother,” Louise said, according to the Daily Record.
“She had made
me promise that if anything were to happen to her, her children would be
brought into the world.”
The
45-year-old, from Stirling, Scotland wants to honour her daughter’s wishes by
using her DNA with a donor egg and surrogate.
Ellie began
expressing her trans identity aged three, and delayed hormonal treatment so
that she could have her sperm collected for future use. She planned to undergo
gender-affirming surgery at 18.
Under UK law,
had she been in a relationship at the time of her death, her partner would have
the right to ask for her sperm to be saved.
There is no
such arrangement for that right to be transferred to the deceased’s parents,
however Louise is asking judges in Scotland’s highest civil court to make a
test case ruling that could set a legal precedent.
Soon, the
court will be asked to give an interim interdict preventing the Glasgow Royal
Infirmary Fertility Clinic from destroying Ellie’s sperm, before making a final
ruling.
“I am going to
do every I can to honour her wishes – not just for her but for anyone else
caught in this position,” Louise added.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority advises
that although some trans people who undergo hormone therapy will have
their fertility restored if they stop the treatment, there
are no guarantees.
Moreover, the
longer a person is having hormone therapy, the more their fertility is likely
to be permanently affected. Bottom surgery will also impact a person’s
fertility.
For this
reason, it advises that trans people may want to have their sperm, eggs or
embryos frozen before treatment, for use in IVF or similar treatment.
SOURCE: PINK NEWS
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