Custody Battle Over an Egg

Sept. 15, 2006 — -- When Randy and Augusta Roman got married nine years ago, they could not have foreseen the tremendous challenges they would face trying to create a family.

After numerous failed pregnancies, miscarriages and various fertility treatments, in vitro fertilization became their last hope for a child together, but then, the night before the embryo transfer was to be performed, Randy Roman asked for a divorce.

"I was shocked. I was not expecting that at all, especially the night before the transfer. All along [he was] telling me what a wonderful mom I would be, supplying the sample, never letting on there was a problem," said Augusta, a 45-year-old nurse.

Randy, a 46-year-old aerospace technician, filed for divorce in December 2002 and the ensuing court proceedings turned into a bitter fight.

Divvying up the house, the 32-inch Sony TV and the furniture was not much of a challenge for either party. The point of disagreement between the two was the fate of their shared embryos.

Augusta wanted custody of the embryos in order to carry one to term. Randy, who no longer wanted to be a father, wanted the embryos to be destroyed.

Before Augusta and Roman began the in vitro fertilization process, they were both required to sign a consent form in which they agreed that if they divorced, the embryos would be discarded.

"I signed the form but I never expected us to get a divorce. I just wanted to move forward with what we were doing. Didn't think much of it," Augusta said.

Greg Enos, Randy Roman's attorney, insisted on the need to enforce the contract they had both signed at the fertility clinic.

"They had an agreement. Part of the consent was what to do with the embryos," Enos said. "They had agreed on what to do."

Rebecca Reitz, Augusta's attorney argued that "when Augusta signed the form at the Center of Reproductive Medicine, she presumed that she would have the initial implantation, and that only the embryos left over would be discarded."