Abstract
Few issues in a divorce may be as emotionally charged, or have such long-term consequences, as disputes over the control of embryos a couple had created and cryopreserved during their marriage. Most men in this scenario, still able to have children naturally, have sought to prevent their ex-wives from having a child they no longer desire. For many women, though, the embryos reflect their best, and perhaps only, opportunity to have a child. The interests could not be more polar, yet there can be no middle ground—one party’s interests must yield to the other. To date, courts have overwhelmingly privileged men’s interests in avoiding the purely cognitive burdens of genetic parenthood, even when freed from any responsibilities of legal parenthood, above women’s interests and investments in experiencing genetic, gestational, and legal parenthood. This presentation featuring Professor Benjamin Carpenter, School of Law, will review these decisions, challenge courts’ and scholars’ prior arguments, and propose a more nuanced balancing of men's and women's interests in future cases.
Speaker
Benjamin C. Carpenter, Associate Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where he has taught since 2010 and was named the law school’s Professor of the Year by the graduating class in 2014. Professor Carpenter’s primary scholarship has addressed the effects of assisted reproductive technologies in estate planning and family law, and his work in this area has been published in specialty journals at Cornell and Yale. His first article, which focused on the inheritance rights of children not just born, but conceived, after the death of a parent, was cited favorably by the Michigan Supreme Court and the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Professor Carpenter’s recent scholarship has also begun to explore the interplay (and sometimes tension) between law firms’ pro bono efforts and civil legal aid, and the role of agency and faith in one’s professional identity.
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