Davis v. Davis case brief

Davis v. Davis case brief summary
842 S.W.2d 588 (1992)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant ex-wife appealed a decision of the Court of Appeals (Tennessee), which reversed a trial court order that awarded her "custody" of frozen embryos following a divorce. The appellate court held that plaintiff ex-husband had a constitutionally protected right not to beget a child where no pregnancy had taken place, and held that there was no compelling state interest to justify ordering implantation against the will of either party.

CASE FACTS
During the marriage, the parties attempted in vitro fertilization but failed. The parties divorced. The ex-wife initially wanted the frozen pre-embryos implanted in her but later asked that they be donated to childless couples. The father initially asked for them to remain frozen and later asked that they be discarded.

DISCUSSION

• The court of appeals concluded that pre-embryos were not "persons," but did not specifically hold they were "property," and nevertheless, awarded "joint custody" based on an undefined shared interest. 
• On appeal, the court agreed that the pre-embryos were not persons and held that the progenitors had equal rights of privacy under the state and federal constitutions that included the right to be free of state interference in procreational choices. 
• The court held that in disputes as to embryos, any prior agreement would be honored, but if there was no prior agreement, the relative interests of the parties in using or not using the embryos must be weighed. 
• The court held that ordinarily, the party wishing to avoid procreation should prevail if the other party could achieve parenthood without the embryos. 
• If not, using the embryos for one progenitor should be considered.

CONCLUSION
The court held that the interest of the ex-husband in not becoming a parent outweighed the interest of the ex-wife who wished to donate the embryos to other persons and not use them to attempt to achieve parenthood for herself. The court affirmed the judgment of the lower appellate court in favor of the ex-husband and authorized the clinic to follow its normal procedure in dealing with unused pre-embryos.

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