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Judge finds frozen embryos are not divisible property in cancer survivor's case against ex-husband
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FILE - The Fairfax County, Va., Courthouse, is seen, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. - photo by AP Photo/Matthew Barakat, File
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A northern Virginia judge determined embryos are not property that can be divided up, rejecting a previous analysis by the court saying such fertilized eggs could be considered divisible “goods or chattel” based on 19th-century slave law. Nearly 10 months after closing arguments, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Dontaè L. Bugg wrote in an opinion letter earlier this month that he would dismiss a cancer survivor’s partition lawsuit against her ex-husband — a legal action that one property owner can take against another. The former wife, Honeyhline Heidemann, sued Jason Heidemann over access to two embryos they froze during a 2015 cycle of in vitro fertilization but agreed to leave in storage during their divorce three years later.