An Israeli court ruled on Monday night that “Baby Sophie,” now two-years-old, will be transferred to the custody of her birth mother, overturning a lower court’s decision for the girl to be raised by her biological parents in the aftermath of a fertility clinic mix-up.
In 2022, Israel was rocked by the news that an embryo was mistakenly implanted in the wrong woman at Rishon Lezion’s Assuta Medical Center.
The mishap was discovered when doctors detected a heart defect in the fetus during the third trimester. Subsequent testing revealed that neither the woman who was carrying the fetus nor her partner were the biological parents.
Baby Sophie’s biological parents were eventually confirmed, sparking a custody battle. The Rishon LeZion Family Court ruled in favor of the biological parents in November.
But the Central District Court of Lod reversed the lower court’s decision on Monday.
A three-judge panel ruled that the birth mother should be prioritized over the genetic mother, as she conceived, carried, and gave birth to the child without knowledge of the error. Despite medical advice to terminate the pregnancy due to heart defects, the birth mother risked her life by undergoing a dangerous intrauterine procedure to save the child.
The ruling also said that “the principle of certainty should be preferred” in light of the possible human errors associated with in vitro fertilization. Giving custody to the birth mother “will provide certainty regarding the results of future errors that may occur in artificial reproduction procedures, and will not require waiting and searching for a genetic connection upon the discovery of the error.”
The decision went on to add, “The genetic test will be required solely so that the child knows her full life story, and not for the purpose of clarifying the identity of her adoptive parents.”
The judges also ruled that biological parents will have regular visitation rights.
In response, the genetic parents said, “We are shocked and hurt by the decision to overturn the Family Court’s ruling. The painful message that emerges from the decision is that serious mistakes and injustices are not only not corrected, but are institutionalized and perpetuated, under the auspices of the state.”
In mid-November, Israel’s State Comptroller released a scathing report on IVF clinics, raising issues of patient safety, inadequate oversight, and staffing shortages.
Israel, which leads the world in fertility treatments per capita, has seen a 60% increase in IVF cycles over the past decade, reaching 61,000 treatments in 2021. However, the Ministry of Health failed to adequately prepare for this surge, the Comptroller reported.
Also in November, Israel’s Health Ministry scaled back IVF activities at Tel Aviv’s Assuta Ramat HaHayal Hospital after an investigation found critical professional and systemic failures jeopardizing patient safety. That investigation was initiated following two major incidents in 2023.
One involved two children from the same couple in who were not genetically related to the father, raising questions about whose sperm had fertilized the eggs. The second incident involved the total degeneration of patients’ eggs due to dehydration during storage. This occurred twice within a span of three months, forcing the affected women to undergo repeated egg retrieval procedures.
Israel offers some of the most generous public funding for IVF in the world. The government subsidizes unlimited IVF treatments for women up to the age of 45, as long as they are trying to have their first two children.
