Texas Supreme Court Denies Rehearing In Roman Embryo Case

On October 12, 2007, the Texas Supreme Court denied a request by Augusta Roman to reconsider the Court’s decision in the case of Roman v. Roman which involves how frozen embryos should be divided in Texas Divorce Cases. 

The Texas Supreme Court had previously refused to hear Augusta Roman’s appeal of a lower court’s decision which said the frozen embryos would not be awarded to her in a Texas divorce.  A refusal to hear a case is the legal equivalent of upholding the lower court’s decision.

Randy Roman and Augusta Roman created and froze the embryos due to difficulties they had in having children.  While still frozen, the embryos became part of a highly contested court case when Randy and Augusta decided to divorce prior to the embryos being implanted.  The trial judge awarded the embryos to the wife in the divorce, who wanted to have them implanted even though the husband did not want children born out of wedlock.  However this ruling was reversed on appeal because the parties had signed an agreement at the time of the embryos’ creation that the embryos would be destroyed in the event of divorce.

Under the rules of the Texas Supreme Court, the Court will NOT consider a second motion for rehearing. Therefore, Augusta has exhausted all her options for appeal on the state level and the decision that she will be denied the embryos stands. 

There is no word yet as to whether Augusta Roman plans to file with the U.S. Supreme Court.