Davis v. Davis
Supreme Court of Tennessee
842 S.W.2d 588 (1992)
Junior and Mary Sue Davis (plaintiff and defendant) disagreed over the disposition of seven frozen pre-embryos upon their divorce, with Junior wanting them destroyed and Mary Sue wanting to donate them to a childless couple; the trial court treated the pre-embryos as "human beings" and awarded custody to Mary Sue, but the court of appeals reversed, finding Junior had a protected right not to beget an unwanted child and ordering joint control, and Mary Sue appealed.
Whether, to resolve a dispute involving the disposition of pre-embryos produced by in vitro fertilization, a court should first ascertain the wishes of the interested parties, then refer to any prior agreement, and if no agreement exists, balance the relative interests of the parties in using or not using the pre-embryos.