A man whose wife died while pregnant with twins is fighting in the High Court for the right to use their last frozen embryo in a surrogacy arrangement. Ted Jennings, 38, from London, says he is certain his wife Fern-Marie Choya would have wanted him to proceed. The fertility regulator, however, argues that doing so would be unlawful because Choya did not give written consent to posthumous surrogacy before her sudden death in 2019.
The couple, originally from Trinidad, met in 2007 and married two years later. After five years of fertility treatment and two miscarriages, they conceived twin girls in 2018. Tragically, Choya died aged 40 from a uterine rupture at 18 weeks of pregnancy. Before IVF, Jennings gave consent for embryos to be used after his death, but Choya was not asked the equivalent question. Her consent form stated she should seek more information if she wished her embryos to be used after her death, which Jennings' legal team argues covered a different scenario.
Speaking before the hearing in the Family Division of the High Court, Jennings said: “It’s not something you would think of when trying to create a life. You’re thinking of the future, not hoping for the worst possible outcome.” He added that surrogacy was the couple's “plan B” if IVF failed, and that one of Choya's sisters had volunteered to act as a surrogate.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said it sympathised with Jennings but that the law requires signed written consent for posthumous use of an embryo with a surrogate. HFEA chief executive Peter Thompson said: “There is no written consent in this case.” Jennings' lawyer, James Lawford Davies, argued: “It is clear that Fern would have wanted Ted to be able to use this embryo, and that she would have done whatever was required to facilitate this.”
