Involuntary Embryo Change: Who Are The Parents. An Italian Case

The case concerns two couples, who began at the same time an in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer program at the fertility center of Pertini Hospital, in Rome, Italy. The embryos were implanted in the uteruses of the two women. During this operation, a painful mistake occurred: the two women received the embryos formed from the gene of the wrong couple. The procedure was successful for only one of the couples, which resulted in a twin pregnancy. The terrible mistake was immediately discovered, at the beginning of the pregnancy. After that, the gestational couple decided to keep the babies and expressed the will to assume the legal parenthood of the twins. The other genetic couple, on the other hand, claimed the right to be recognized as effective parents of the unborn children, initiating legal proceedings. This exceptional event resulted in the problem of identifying which is the applicable law. Who are the real parents of the embryos? The genetic couple or the gestational ones? Or, maybe, should the couples be separated? That is to say that the mother should be the woman who carried out the pregnancy and the father should be the “genetic man”, the man who is biologically linked to the children.