Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 17:52     Subject: Re:IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.


Can you tell us these states and give us a link to the specific laws that would result in this couple legally being required to give the baby to the genetic parents? Thanks!

The article about the lawyer of the biological parents states that this is an extremely rare situation, so it is interesting that there are states that have laws that cover such an unlikely event as accidently being implanted with a different couple’s embryo.


This is from Murphy, Anar, and Michael Collins. 2024. “Legal Case Study of Severe IVF Incidents Worldwide: Causes, Consequences, and High Emotional, Financial, and Reputational Costs to Patients and Providers.” North American Proceedings in Gynecology & Obstetrics 3 (3). https://doi.org/10.54053/001c.118936.
Worldwide they found 25 incidents of embryo mix ups affecting 64 people.

3.3.1. Consequences of frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups
Frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups are the most prevalent type of IVF related incident following catastrophic large-scale storage, tank, and alarm failures (Figure 2). The first widely publicized U.S. case that set a precedent for the following cases on who would get the child(ren)—genetic or birth parents—was Perry-Rogers v. Fasano (2000). In this case, a White couple, Richard and Donna Fasano, had twin sons via ART/IVF treatment, one of whom was an African American child. The newborn boy’s genetic parents, Deborah Perry-Rogers and Robert Rogers sued the Fasanos for the custody of their biological son and won. At 8 months, their son was returned to them. All the following U.S. cases of embryo mix-ups, resulting in a wrong parent carrying the child(ren) who was not biologically related to them, to term, were settled in favor of genetic parents, including Manukyan v. CHA Fertility (2019). In this particularly devastating case, an Asian couple who went to California to seek fertility treatments were expecting to have twin daughters, but instead, the mother gave birth to twin boys, who were not Asian and were not related to each other. The two other parental couples sued and successfully won the custody of their biological children, leaving the birth couple who wanted to raise the children devastated. What happened to the couple’s own two female embryos were never determined, and their case, A.P. et al v. CHA Health Systems, Inc. et al., moved from New York State to California for further litigation (2023).


That is a summary of some court cases, in which they appear to favor the genetic parents. Interesting that they could only find 25 cases like this, worldwide. So how many US cases have there been?

Do any states have any statutory laws that apply in these cases that involve another couple’s embryos being implanted by mistake?

It would be interesting to know the reason the biological parents chose to not assert their rights to the child if the legal precedent indicates they’d be highly likely to win the case. It appears there’s more to the story here, but they are not sharing their story.




This is a matter of state law as many prior posts have explained. The legal precedent does not indicate that the biological parents would be highly likely to win the case because cases from around the world or around the country don’t control a matter of state law. And Florida law favors the birth parent.


Can you cite the state law involved here, please?

Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 17:41     Subject: Re:IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.


Can you tell us these states and give us a link to the specific laws that would result in this couple legally being required to give the baby to the genetic parents? Thanks!

The article about the lawyer of the biological parents states that this is an extremely rare situation, so it is interesting that there are states that have laws that cover such an unlikely event as accidently being implanted with a different couple’s embryo.


This is from Murphy, Anar, and Michael Collins. 2024. “Legal Case Study of Severe IVF Incidents Worldwide: Causes, Consequences, and High Emotional, Financial, and Reputational Costs to Patients and Providers.” North American Proceedings in Gynecology & Obstetrics 3 (3). https://doi.org/10.54053/001c.118936.
Worldwide they found 25 incidents of embryo mix ups affecting 64 people.

3.3.1. Consequences of frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups
Frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups are the most prevalent type of IVF related incident following catastrophic large-scale storage, tank, and alarm failures (Figure 2). The first widely publicized U.S. case that set a precedent for the following cases on who would get the child(ren)—genetic or birth parents—was Perry-Rogers v. Fasano (2000). In this case, a White couple, Richard and Donna Fasano, had twin sons via ART/IVF treatment, one of whom was an African American child. The newborn boy’s genetic parents, Deborah Perry-Rogers and Robert Rogers sued the Fasanos for the custody of their biological son and won. At 8 months, their son was returned to them. All the following U.S. cases of embryo mix-ups, resulting in a wrong parent carrying the child(ren) who was not biologically related to them, to term, were settled in favor of genetic parents, including Manukyan v. CHA Fertility (2019). In this particularly devastating case, an Asian couple who went to California to seek fertility treatments were expecting to have twin daughters, but instead, the mother gave birth to twin boys, who were not Asian and were not related to each other. The two other parental couples sued and successfully won the custody of their biological children, leaving the birth couple who wanted to raise the children devastated. What happened to the couple’s own two female embryos were never determined, and their case, A.P. et al v. CHA Health Systems, Inc. et al., moved from New York State to California for further litigation (2023).


That is a summary of some court cases, in which they appear to favor the genetic parents. Interesting that they could only find 25 cases like this, worldwide. So how many US cases have there been?

Do any states have any statutory laws that apply in these cases that involve another couple’s embryos being implanted by mistake?

It would be interesting to know the reason the biological parents chose to not assert their rights to the child if the legal precedent indicates they’d be highly likely to win the case. It appears there’s more to the story here, but they are not sharing their story.




This is a matter of state law as many prior posts have explained. The legal precedent does not indicate that the biological parents would be highly likely to win the case because cases from around the world or around the country don’t control a matter of state law. And Florida law favors the birth parent.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 17:38     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter if the biological parents are elderly, would be awful parents, are poor, are criminals. The fact is no court terminated their parental rights due to concerns about neglect or abuse. Biological parents who use surrogates are not asked to prove anything about their ability to parent.

At least 100,000 children have been born through surrogacy in the past 40 years. There is nothing so special about carrying a baby or some bond that is considered more special than genetics or the wishes of the intended parents who created or paid for the embryo.

This situation of an unintended surrogate getting to keep someone else’s biological child is insane. Most state courts treat embryos as the distinct genetic property of the intended parents. If a clinic accidentally implants that embryo into the wrong person, courts view it as a theft or conversion of genetic material.

And this is what Tiffany Score argued for in Jan. She wanted her biological child back and to return this baby to her biological parents. It was only after she found out her biological embryo that was implanted in another woman did not result in a child that she decided to steal this baby.

The reason the baby can legally be stolen is only because the baby was born in Florida where a woman’s right to chose what happens to her body and unborn fetus isn’t respected.


She was not a surrogate. She is the legal mother and gave birth to


She was a surrogate she just didn’t know it.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 17:37     Subject: Re:IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.


Can you tell us these states and give us a link to the specific laws that would result in this couple legally being required to give the baby to the genetic parents? Thanks!

The article about the lawyer of the biological parents states that this is an extremely rare situation, so it is interesting that there are states that have laws that cover such an unlikely event as accidently being implanted with a different couple’s embryo.


This is from Murphy, Anar, and Michael Collins. 2024. “Legal Case Study of Severe IVF Incidents Worldwide: Causes, Consequences, and High Emotional, Financial, and Reputational Costs to Patients and Providers.” North American Proceedings in Gynecology & Obstetrics 3 (3). https://doi.org/10.54053/001c.118936.
Worldwide they found 25 incidents of embryo mix ups affecting 64 people.

3.3.1. Consequences of frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups
Frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups are the most prevalent type of IVF related incident following catastrophic large-scale storage, tank, and alarm failures (Figure 2). The first widely publicized U.S. case that set a precedent for the following cases on who would get the child(ren)—genetic or birth parents—was Perry-Rogers v. Fasano (2000). In this case, a White couple, Richard and Donna Fasano, had twin sons via ART/IVF treatment, one of whom was an African American child. The newborn boy’s genetic parents, Deborah Perry-Rogers and Robert Rogers sued the Fasanos for the custody of their biological son and won. At 8 months, their son was returned to them. All the following U.S. cases of embryo mix-ups, resulting in a wrong parent carrying the child(ren) who was not biologically related to them, to term, were settled in favor of genetic parents, including Manukyan v. CHA Fertility (2019). In this particularly devastating case, an Asian couple who went to California to seek fertility treatments were expecting to have twin daughters, but instead, the mother gave birth to twin boys, who were not Asian and were not related to each other. The two other parental couples sued and successfully won the custody of their biological children, leaving the birth couple who wanted to raise the children devastated. What happened to the couple’s own two female embryos were never determined, and their case, A.P. et al v. CHA Health Systems, Inc. et al., moved from New York State to California for further litigation (2023).


This article is extremely interesting and goes to show how important culture norms are in determining what people think is "obviously right."

"In the Czech Republic, however, the law states the mother of the child(ren) is the woman who gives birth to the child(ren). Regardless of genetic maternity, the birth mother has legal rights to keep the child(ren). In case of embryo mix-ups involving international patients, who visit the Czech Republic for fertility treatments, the custody lawsuits might be complicated by the differences between the Czech law and the laws of their countries, with the Czech law taking precedent in Czech courts, regardless of the patients’ and child(ren)’ nationality."

From my research, it looks like at least two other countries show a strong preference for the birth parents, while the U.S. is unique in obviously favoring the genetic parents. So in at least the Czech Republic, Australia, and Israel, even in IVF mix ups, the birth parent nearly always wins. The U.S. and Singapore tend to go with the genetic parent.

https://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2026/01/09/jme-2025-111285
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 17:32     Subject: Re:IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.


Can you tell us these states and give us a link to the specific laws that would result in this couple legally being required to give the baby to the genetic parents? Thanks!

The article about the lawyer of the biological parents states that this is an extremely rare situation, so it is interesting that there are states that have laws that cover such an unlikely event as accidently being implanted with a different couple’s embryo.


This is from Murphy, Anar, and Michael Collins. 2024. “Legal Case Study of Severe IVF Incidents Worldwide: Causes, Consequences, and High Emotional, Financial, and Reputational Costs to Patients and Providers.” North American Proceedings in Gynecology & Obstetrics 3 (3). https://doi.org/10.54053/001c.118936.
Worldwide they found 25 incidents of embryo mix ups affecting 64 people.

3.3.1. Consequences of frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups
Frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups are the most prevalent type of IVF related incident following catastrophic large-scale storage, tank, and alarm failures (Figure 2). The first widely publicized U.S. case that set a precedent for the following cases on who would get the child(ren)—genetic or birth parents—was Perry-Rogers v. Fasano (2000). In this case, a White couple, Richard and Donna Fasano, had twin sons via ART/IVF treatment, one of whom was an African American child. The newborn boy’s genetic parents, Deborah Perry-Rogers and Robert Rogers sued the Fasanos for the custody of their biological son and won. At 8 months, their son was returned to them. All the following U.S. cases of embryo mix-ups, resulting in a wrong parent carrying the child(ren) who was not biologically related to them, to term, were settled in favor of genetic parents, including Manukyan v. CHA Fertility (2019). In this particularly devastating case, an Asian couple who went to California to seek fertility treatments were expecting to have twin daughters, but instead, the mother gave birth to twin boys, who were not Asian and were not related to each other. The two other parental couples sued and successfully won the custody of their biological children, leaving the birth couple who wanted to raise the children devastated. What happened to the couple’s own two female embryos were never determined, and their case, A.P. et al v. CHA Health Systems, Inc. et al., moved from New York State to California for further litigation (2023).


That is a summary of some court cases, in which they appear to favor the genetic parents. Interesting that they could only find 25 cases like this, worldwide. So how many US cases have there been?

Do any states have any statutory laws that apply in these cases that involve another couple’s embryos being implanted by mistake?

It would be interesting to know the reason the biological parents chose to not assert their rights to the child if the legal precedent indicates they’d be highly likely to win the case. It appears there’s more to the story here, but they are not sharing their story.


Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 17:28     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:And one more thing, if you want to argue about what's best for the child, let's ask the birth mom if she had never gotten pregnant, and someone else accidentally carried her genetic child, would she think the best think for her genetic child would be to be raised by her? 100% she would say yes.

So let's just use that assumption of what is "best for the child" - the very thing she would have insisted on.


You are an absolute master of projection with zero self-awareness.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 17:11     Subject: Re:IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.


Can you tell us these states and give us a link to the specific laws that would result in this couple legally being required to give the baby to the genetic parents? Thanks!

The article about the lawyer of the biological parents states that this is an extremely rare situation, so it is interesting that there are states that have laws that cover such an unlikely event as accidently being implanted with a different couple’s embryo.


This is from Murphy, Anar, and Michael Collins. 2024. “Legal Case Study of Severe IVF Incidents Worldwide: Causes, Consequences, and High Emotional, Financial, and Reputational Costs to Patients and Providers.” North American Proceedings in Gynecology & Obstetrics 3 (3). https://doi.org/10.54053/001c.118936.
Worldwide they found 25 incidents of embryo mix ups affecting 64 people.

3.3.1. Consequences of frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups
Frozen reproductive specimen mix-ups are the most prevalent type of IVF related incident following catastrophic large-scale storage, tank, and alarm failures (Figure 2). The first widely publicized U.S. case that set a precedent for the following cases on who would get the child(ren)—genetic or birth parents—was Perry-Rogers v. Fasano (2000). In this case, a White couple, Richard and Donna Fasano, had twin sons via ART/IVF treatment, one of whom was an African American child. The newborn boy’s genetic parents, Deborah Perry-Rogers and Robert Rogers sued the Fasanos for the custody of their biological son and won. At 8 months, their son was returned to them. All the following U.S. cases of embryo mix-ups, resulting in a wrong parent carrying the child(ren) who was not biologically related to them, to term, were settled in favor of genetic parents, including Manukyan v. CHA Fertility (2019). In this particularly devastating case, an Asian couple who went to California to seek fertility treatments were expecting to have twin daughters, but instead, the mother gave birth to twin boys, who were not Asian and were not related to each other. The two other parental couples sued and successfully won the custody of their biological children, leaving the birth couple who wanted to raise the children devastated. What happened to the couple’s own two female embryos were never determined, and their case, A.P. et al v. CHA Health Systems, Inc. et al., moved from New York State to California for further litigation (2023).
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 16:18     Subject: Re:IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.


Can you tell us these states and give us a link to the specific laws that would result in this couple legally being required to give the baby to the genetic parents? Thanks!

The article about the lawyer of the biological parents states that this is an extremely rare situation, so it is interesting that there are states that have laws that cover such an unlikely event as accidently being implanted with a different couple’s embryo.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 16:14     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

And one more thing, if you want to argue about what's best for the child, let's ask the birth mom if she had never gotten pregnant, and someone else accidentally carried her genetic child, would she think the best think for her genetic child would be to be raised by her? 100% she would say yes.

So let's just use that assumption of what is "best for the child" - the very thing she would have insisted on.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 16:09     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's an awful situation. But if I had to go with which mom gets custody, I'd choose the birth mom. I'd have a much easier time donating an embryo than being a surrogate (not that I'd choose to do either).



One more time:

The decision should be made based upon what’s best for the child, not what’s best for the moms.


Aren’t the two connected? There is an existing emotional bond between birth mother and baby that doesn’t exist with the biological mom.


Exactly! And we know this because the gestational mother said in a court filing that she’d really like to swap this baby for her own genetic child (who didn’t exist, it turns out).


Her supposed bond can’t be measured or proven but biological bonds can be.


I think we can infer something about her bond with the child from the fact that she was willing to give this baby up when she believed she would be able to swap it for her own genetic child.


Right? Her first order of business was to find the parents. What mother needs to find her baby's parents?


Where did the parents ever say that. I thought they said they wanted to track down their embryos and their kid’s bio parents? I didn’t see anything about a swap, but maybe I missed it.


https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-couple-sues-fertility-clinic-allegedly-giving-birth-someone-elses-baby

They intended to reunite this baby with the genetic parents when they still had hope that some other women was pregnant with or had given birth to their genetic child. When they learned that had not happened, they decided to keep this baby.


It says nowhere that they wanted to swap the child. It says they wanted to identify the bio parents because they felt they felt they had a right to know and would want the same. The fundraiser refers to the birth parents as the baby’s parents. They express fear that the baby “could be taken from them at any moment.”

I have no how idea you could so heartless and cruel as to read into this that the birth parents wanted to trade babies.


Did you even read the article?

This is a quote from the complaint that initiated their lawsuit against the fertility clinic: "They would willingly keep her in their care; however, for the sake of both Shea and her genetic parents, they recognize that Shea should legally and morally be united with her genetic parents so long as they are fit, able and willing to take her."


How do we know they’re fit, able, and willing to care for her?


FFS. You're truly a sick person.


Do you have any idea how IVF works? The parents could easily be 70 years old. We have no info about them! They reached a joint agreement with the birth parents.


Age is relevant when income is not?


Poor people provide great homes all the time. Dead people can't provide.


+1 you would think this wouldn’t need to be explained


Who are the dead people in your wild scenario?


The people supporting the gestational mother have resorted to making up bizarre scenarios in which she was not only entitled to keep the baby, but where it was practically the only option. One such scenario that they’ve dreamed up is one in which the genetic parents are so old that they’re on death’s door and are likely to die at any minute, such that they’re likely to leave this baby an orphan.

They’re also claiming that the genetic parents may be child molesters.


No, no one is saying that the biological parents are actually or probably bad. The point is that we don’t have any details about them and they reached a confidential settlement with the birth parents where the birth parents retain custody. There could be MANY reasons why this arrangement is in the best interests of the child. It also might NOT be in the best interests of the child. We can’t know because we have zero information about the biological parents, so the possibilities are endless.

And the child molester comment was responding only to the poster who made the ridiculous point that the fact that the biological parents have visitation must mean they are suitable parents. That’s certainly not what it means given that convicted child molesters frequently get visitation yet obviously are not fit to be parents.


But you *do* have details. The genetic parents' lawyer has spoken up and said they were devastated but told it would be difficult to win. The genetic parents want the child.


The genetic parents have decided to keep their privacy, which is obviously their right. By doing that, they have given up the chance to tell their story. It’s possible that if people knew more about their situation, people would be willing to help them with funds for a lawyer who could make their case.

Most people like to help other people. I think they’d find support and people willing to come forward and help them if their story were known.

It's more likely that the genetic parents were required by the birth parents to keep their privacy. The birth parents have all the legal power in Florida and if the genetic parents want any chance at knowing their child, they have to do whatever the birth parents insist.

They are in a precarious situation. If the genetic parents decide to tell their story and get public support and donations for legal help, that will anger the birth parents and probably violate the visitation schedule they offered to the genetic parents. So if they ended up losing in court, they would have no contact ever again with the baby.

Do you take the small chance that you might win and risk never seeing your child again? Or do you take the offer to have visitation and stay private?

The unfortunate thing is, if down the road the child shows any attachment to the genetic parents, these birth parents (well, birth mother since they aren't even married) will do anything to snatch the child back legally and make further visitation very difficult.

The birth mother has shown her cards by initially saying she wanted to find the genetic parents when she assumed they had her genetic baby in a switch-up. It sounds like she would have handed over the baby in exchange for her own genetic baby. But once she found out she had no genetic baby of her own, she then changed her mind and probably saw this baby as maybe her only chance at being a mom. What a selfish mother who isn't doing the very thing she would have wanted another mom to do had that mom gotten her genetic baby. She has shown her true nature and it's very self centered and not thinking at all about what is best for the child.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 15:14     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter if the biological parents are elderly, would be awful parents, are poor, are criminals. The fact is no court terminated their parental rights due to concerns about neglect or abuse. Biological parents who use surrogates are not asked to prove anything about their ability to parent.

At least 100,000 children have been born through surrogacy in the past 40 years. There is nothing so special about carrying a baby or some bond that is considered more special than genetics or the wishes of the intended parents who created or paid for the embryo.

This situation of an unintended surrogate getting to keep someone else’s biological child is insane. Most state courts treat embryos as the distinct genetic property of the intended parents. If a clinic accidentally implants that embryo into the wrong person, courts view it as a theft or conversion of genetic material.

And this is what Tiffany Score argued for in Jan. She wanted her biological child back and to return this baby to her biological parents. It was only after she found out her biological embryo that was implanted in another woman did not result in a child that she decided to steal this baby.

The reason the baby can legally be stolen is only because the baby was born in Florida where a woman’s right to chose what happens to her body and unborn fetus isn’t respected.


She was not a surrogate. She is the legal mother and gave birth to


The vitriol and disregard shown towards a woman who endured an entire pregnancy and birth here is frankly shocking.


Because she's stolen someone's baby by not letting her parents who want her have her. This baby won't have a chance. What started out as an accident ended up as a gross sense of amoral entitlement. That is not her baby.


You have the right to believe whatever you want but the fact that you're so entrenched on genetics being determinative isn't reflected in either ethical or legal frameworks. Viewing a woman as only an incubator is pretty toxic.


Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.

In this country where surrogacy is legal and widely available the prevailing law and public opinion is that a woman can be an incubator.

Of course people would be sympathetic with the unintended gestational carrier and hope she would win a lawsuit if she had returned the baby. But she has stolen a baby.

There are no psychologists or scientists who would think long-term this baby is going to be better off away from her biological parents who wanted her, are fit to raise her, and who look like she does. Instead she is going to grow up with a white single mother who thinks it is a good idea to publicize this case, not stay anonymous, and get money from gofund me. This baby has no say in publicizing her name and image.


I like how you just proclaim your personal values as universal truths and offer no citation.

And you would only think the birth mother wasn't important to the baby if you think of women as incubators. If you see carrying and birthing a baby as something beyond mere incubation, then you would agree that there is a valuable bond between birth mother and child that should be valued.

And if we're proclaiming our own beliefs as universal truths without citation, I'll tell you that no psychologist or scientist would make a decision about which set of parents would be best for the child without a shred of information about the biological parents.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 14:39     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter if the biological parents are elderly, would be awful parents, are poor, are criminals. The fact is no court terminated their parental rights due to concerns about neglect or abuse. Biological parents who use surrogates are not asked to prove anything about their ability to parent.

At least 100,000 children have been born through surrogacy in the past 40 years. There is nothing so special about carrying a baby or some bond that is considered more special than genetics or the wishes of the intended parents who created or paid for the embryo.

This situation of an unintended surrogate getting to keep someone else’s biological child is insane. Most state courts treat embryos as the distinct genetic property of the intended parents. If a clinic accidentally implants that embryo into the wrong person, courts view it as a theft or conversion of genetic material.

And this is what Tiffany Score argued for in Jan. She wanted her biological child back and to return this baby to her biological parents. It was only after she found out her biological embryo that was implanted in another woman did not result in a child that she decided to steal this baby.

The reason the baby can legally be stolen is only because the baby was born in Florida where a woman’s right to chose what happens to her body and unborn fetus isn’t respected.


She was not a surrogate. She is the legal mother and gave birth to


The vitriol and disregard shown towards a woman who endured an entire pregnancy and birth here is frankly shocking.


Because she's stolen someone's baby by not letting her parents who want her have her. This baby won't have a chance. What started out as an accident ended up as a gross sense of amoral entitlement. That is not her baby.


You have the right to believe whatever you want but the fact that you're so entrenched on genetics being determinative isn't reflected in either ethical or legal frameworks. Viewing a woman as only an incubator is pretty toxic.


Genetics is absolutely legally and ethically a determining factor. In most states in this country would have legally given back the baby to the biological parents.

In this country where surrogacy is legal and widely available the prevailing law and public opinion is that a woman can be an incubator.

Of course people would be sympathetic with the unintended gestational carrier and hope she would win a lawsuit if she had returned the baby. But she has stolen a baby.

There are no psychologists or scientists who would think long-term this baby is going to be better off away from her biological parents who wanted her, are fit to raise her, and who look like she does. Instead she is going to grow up with a white single mother who thinks it is a good idea to publicize this case, not stay anonymous, and get money from gofund me. This baby has no say in publicizing her name and image.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 13:55     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter if the biological parents are elderly, would be awful parents, are poor, are criminals. The fact is no court terminated their parental rights due to concerns about neglect or abuse. Biological parents who use surrogates are not asked to prove anything about their ability to parent.

At least 100,000 children have been born through surrogacy in the past 40 years. There is nothing so special about carrying a baby or some bond that is considered more special than genetics or the wishes of the intended parents who created or paid for the embryo.

This situation of an unintended surrogate getting to keep someone else’s biological child is insane. Most state courts treat embryos as the distinct genetic property of the intended parents. If a clinic accidentally implants that embryo into the wrong person, courts view it as a theft or conversion of genetic material.

And this is what Tiffany Score argued for in Jan. She wanted her biological child back and to return this baby to her biological parents. It was only after she found out her biological embryo that was implanted in another woman did not result in a child that she decided to steal this baby.

The reason the baby can legally be stolen is only because the baby was born in Florida where a woman’s right to chose what happens to her body and unborn fetus isn’t respected.


She was not a surrogate. She is the legal mother and gave birth to


The vitriol and disregard shown towards a woman who endured an entire pregnancy and birth here is frankly shocking.


Because she's stolen someone's baby by not letting her parents who want her have her. This baby won't have a chance. What started out as an accident ended up as a gross sense of amoral entitlement. That is not her baby.


You have the right to believe whatever you want but the fact that you're so entrenched on genetics being determinative isn't reflected in either ethical or legal frameworks. Viewing a woman as only an incubator is pretty toxic.


Renting a womb is pretty toxic and reduces women to incubators.


No one in this story rented a womb.


Nor did they birth their biological baby.
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 13:53     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's an awful situation. But if I had to go with which mom gets custody, I'd choose the birth mom. I'd have a much easier time donating an embryo than being a surrogate (not that I'd choose to do either).



One more time:

The decision should be made based upon what’s best for the child, not what’s best for the moms.


Aren’t the two connected? There is an existing emotional bond between birth mother and baby that doesn’t exist with the biological mom.


Exactly! And we know this because the gestational mother said in a court filing that she’d really like to swap this baby for her own genetic child (who didn’t exist, it turns out).


Her supposed bond can’t be measured or proven but biological bonds can be.


I think we can infer something about her bond with the child from the fact that she was willing to give this baby up when she believed she would be able to swap it for her own genetic child.


Right? Her first order of business was to find the parents. What mother needs to find her baby's parents?


Where did the parents ever say that. I thought they said they wanted to track down their embryos and their kid’s bio parents? I didn’t see anything about a swap, but maybe I missed it.


https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-couple-sues-fertility-clinic-allegedly-giving-birth-someone-elses-baby

They intended to reunite this baby with the genetic parents when they still had hope that some other women was pregnant with or had given birth to their genetic child. When they learned that had not happened, they decided to keep this baby.


It says nowhere that they wanted to swap the child. It says they wanted to identify the bio parents because they felt they felt they had a right to know and would want the same. The fundraiser refers to the birth parents as the baby’s parents. They express fear that the baby “could be taken from them at any moment.”

I have no how idea you could so heartless and cruel as to read into this that the birth parents wanted to trade babies.


You didn’t read the article. The birth parents said that they were looking for the biological parents to return the baby in their legal complaint.


Regardless of where one stands, I think people on this thread are giving too much credit to whatever each side says. Of course they’re gonna say all the right things! Bio parents won’t say “they can keep the girl, we wanted a boy anyway, and they are paying us a hefty sum at that”. The birth parents won’t say “we’d much rather have our own baby but time is running out so we’ll take the one we ended up with”.


I highly doubt a couple extremely anti-girl would have kept female embryos. So that doesn't hold water.


Okay I’ll take it.
I assume there’s no way they didn’t know the gender of the embryo?


To add, but that was just an example. The point is we have no idea of their true intentions, and maybe they also aren’t completely aware themselves
Anonymous
Post 06/21/2026 13:53     Subject: IVF embryo error, custody settlement

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter if the biological parents are elderly, would be awful parents, are poor, are criminals. The fact is no court terminated their parental rights due to concerns about neglect or abuse. Biological parents who use surrogates are not asked to prove anything about their ability to parent.

At least 100,000 children have been born through surrogacy in the past 40 years. There is nothing so special about carrying a baby or some bond that is considered more special than genetics or the wishes of the intended parents who created or paid for the embryo.

This situation of an unintended surrogate getting to keep someone else’s biological child is insane. Most state courts treat embryos as the distinct genetic property of the intended parents. If a clinic accidentally implants that embryo into the wrong person, courts view it as a theft or conversion of genetic material.

And this is what Tiffany Score argued for in Jan. She wanted her biological child back and to return this baby to her biological parents. It was only after she found out her biological embryo that was implanted in another woman did not result in a child that she decided to steal this baby.

The reason the baby can legally be stolen is only because the baby was born in Florida where a woman’s right to chose what happens to her body and unborn fetus isn’t respected.


She was not a surrogate. She is the legal mother and gave birth to


The vitriol and disregard shown towards a woman who endured an entire pregnancy and birth here is frankly shocking.


Because she's stolen someone's baby by not letting her parents who want her have her. This baby won't have a chance. What started out as an accident ended up as a gross sense of amoral entitlement. That is not her baby.


You have the right to believe whatever you want but the fact that you're so entrenched on genetics being determinative isn't reflected in either ethical or legal frameworks. Viewing a woman as only an incubator is pretty toxic.


Renting a womb is pretty toxic and reduces women to incubators.


No one in this story rented a womb.