Court overturns ruling that ordered toddler returned to genetic parents following embryo mix-up

The Central District Court overturns a lower court decision in the Assuta IVF mix-up scandal, and rules that a two-year old girl born in a 2022 following an implantation mistake at an Assuta IVF clinic must remain with her birth parents and not be given to her genetic parents.

Sophia has been raised by the woman who gave birth to her and her partner, but in November last year the Rishon Lezion Family Court ruled in favor of transferring custody of the young girl to her genetic parents, though the move was not immediately carried out.

But a three-judge panel of the district court rules that the parental rights of the birth mother and her partner, who were raising her, should be given preference over that of the genetic parents, “since we are dealing with a mother who conceived and carried the minor in her womb without knowing about the mistake that had occurred.”

The court also notes that the birth mother risked her life for the baby when she was still pregnant with her, since she agreed to have surgery performed on the fetus while she was still pregnant which endangered her own life, despite recommendations of doctors to abort the pregnancy.

“She gave birth to the girl, and together with her partner, she raised her with great devotion, devoting their time to her health and physical and mental development,” the judges write.

They add that “from an ethical perspective” a principle should be adopted that “just like one does not remove a fetus from the womb of the mother bearing [it] so too one does not remove the child from her hands.”

The court does, however, state that Sophia’s genetic parents should be able to keep in close contact with her, “in accordance with arrangements to be determined by the welfare services.”

The mix-up at Rishon Lezion’s Assuta Medical Center in 2022 was discovered when the then in-utero fetus was determined to have medical problems, and after undergoing tests it was discovered that neither the woman carrying the child nor her partner could be her biological parents.

The Rishon Lezion Family Court ruled in November 2024, based on an professional opinion submitted to the court, that Sophia’s genetic parents were her “natural parents” and that it was “best for a child to be raised by them.” A second professional opinion had recommended that Sophia remain with her birth parents.