A British woman lost her legal battle today to have a baby using frozen embryos that her former partner wants destroyed.
Ms Natallie Evans (33) had argued the embryos were her only chance to have children as her ovaries were removed during cancer treatment.
But the Court of Appeal backed a High Court ruling last year that she can not complete the in-vitro fertilisation treatment she started with her former partner.
It also refused Ms Evans permission to appeal to the House of Lords - England's highest court - although she can still apply directly to the Law Lords herself, and is expected to do so next month.
Last October, Ms Evans and another woman Ms Lorraine Hadley (38), lost their challenge to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA), which states embryos must be destroyed unless both parties consent to their continued storage and use.
The men in both cases withdrew their consent for the embryos to be used after the couples separated.
The 1990 act states that consent from either party may be withdrawn at any time until the embryos are used.
One of the Appeal Court judges, Lady Justice Arden said: "For Ms Evans this is a tragedy of a kind which may well not have been in anyone's mind when the statute was framed."