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A 58-year-old woman wants to give birth to her dead daughter's babies.

A world-first legal battle has come to a close.

This story started back in 2011, when a 28-year-old woman passed away from bowel cancer.

Prior to her death, however, she signed a note giving permission for her eggs to be frozen.

woman who wanted to give birth to grandchildren
Image: iStock.

After she passed away, the young woman’s 59-year-old mother approached various UK fertility clinics requesting her daughter’s eggs be fertilised with donor sperm. She hoped the fertilised eggs would then be placed inside her, and she could eventually bear her own grandchildren.

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The clinics refused.

The mother then sought to have the eggs flown to the United States to carry out the procedure there.

This is where the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) — Britain’s fertility treatment authority — stepped in and stopped the woman from going any further.

woman who wanted to give birth to grandchildren
Image: iStock.

According to the authority, the woman didn’t have written permission to use the eggs.

After a months-long legal stoush, we learned today that the 59-year-old mother lost her case.

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She won’t be able to give birth to her daughter’s children.

The courts found that — while the daughter provided written consent for her eggs to be frozen — she did not state how they could be used and by whom.

The case was thought to be the first of its kind in Britain, and may now set a precedent for further cases of this nature.

It ignited debate among politicians and members of the public about the woman’s right to use her dead child’s eggs.

One mother who acted as a surrogate for her daughter’s children told the Daily Mail: “It depends on the woman’s health but if that was her daughter’s wish and she wants to honour that wish then it’s absolutely her choice. If you can keep a part of your child alive, anyone would do it, wouldn’t they? My heart goes out to them.”

Mamamia reported earlier this year that if the woman’s legal battle failed, her daughter’s eggs would be destroyed in February 2018.

Do you think the mother had the right to use her daughter’s eggs?

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