After losing custody, genetic parents of Sophia, IVF mixup baby, petition Supreme Court for new hearing. ‘This case will shape Israeli family law for generations.’
The genetic parents of baby Sophia, born following an IVF mix-up at Assuta Hospital in 2022, have submitted a formal request to the Supreme Court demanding an additional hearing, Ynet reported.
The request follows indications that the genetic couple would not abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling that Sophia should be raised by her birth parents, and would instead demand to continue the legal battle.
In their petition, quoted by Ynet, the genetic parents noted, “This is an extraordinary and unprecedented case with consequences for generations to come.” They also claimed that the ruling, which backs a woman’s right to raise the children she births but denied them legal recognition as Sophia’s parents, creates a dangerous precedent in Israeli family law.
Attorneys Shmuel Moran and Professor Pinhas Shifman, who represent the genetic parents, slammed: “This is an unprecedented case in Israeli legal history. For the first time, the natural parenthood of healthy, competent genetic parents was stripped away.” According to them, the ruling “sets new legal definitions for fatherhood and motherhood, disregards the clear original intent of the [genetic] parents, and risks undermining the trust of fertility patients in the medical and legal systems.”
“The public implications of this case are far-reaching,” they added. “This is not just about one tragic incident. It is about the rights of future parents, the integrity of fertility procedures in Israel, and the legal recognition of biological truth. This is one of those rare, deeply human cases that warrants further judicial examination. The consequences will continue to impact not only Sophia and her parents but many others in the years to come.”
Galit Kerner and Yonatan Kanir, attorneys for the birth parents, noted in their argument that if the Supreme Court were to rule the reverse, it would affect not only couples currently undergoing IVF, but also parents of children born through IVF, both recently and several years ago. Undermining the birth mother’s right to her child would also undermine her right to bodily autonomy and infringe on her basic human rights as a woman and a mother.
Israeli law sees the birth mother as the child’s natural mother both in cases of gamete donation, in which all the donor’s rights to the child are revoked, and in cases of surrogacy, when the birth mother retains the right to regret her decision to give up the baby for a period of seven days following the birth. In addition, the Surrogacy Law declares clearly that in cases of conflict, the birth mother becomes the child’s legal parent and guardian.
