Erin Millender, a 47-year-old New Yorker, faces what she calls her last chance to become a mother after her husband Adam Rubin revoked consent for their IVF treatment and moved to end their marriage. A legal fight over frozen embryos that never became children is now dividing courts and couples nationwide.

Millender received an infertility diagnosis at 41 and scheduled an egg retrieval at NYU's I.V.F. clinic. Her husband, who had helped administer injections and put up motivational posters around their home, withdrew consent in July 2023. Their doctor told her they were bound by his decision. She now paces Manhattan streets questioning how much time remains.

The couple's collapse mirrors a broader legal gap. As women delay parenthood into their 40s, embryo custody disputes are multiplying. Courts lack consistent rules for deciding who keeps embryos when relationships end. Millender's case, detailed after reviewing hundreds of documents, tests how far reproductive autonomy stretches when consent becomes contested.