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04.09.2026

Can a Clinic Destroy Your Frozen Embryos? Georgian Law Explained

Georgian law contains no provision that expressly states who may decide to destroy or continue storing a frozen embryo. In practice, three documents settle the question: the couple's written consent, the agreement with the clinic, and the certificate that must be drawn up before freezing. A clinic has no statutory power to destroy embryos unilaterally over the objection of the people whose genetic material created them, though there is no express prohibition either. This is why the paperwork decides the outcome.

What follows sets out what the legislation provides, which documents are mandatory, and what a patient can do when termination of treatment and destruction of embryos are on the table.

What the law provides on in vitro fertilisation?

Article 143 of the Law of Georgia on Health Care permits in vitro fertilisation in two situations:

to treat infertility, or where there is a risk of transmitting a genetic disease from the wife or husband, using the gametes or embryo of the couple or of a donor, provided the written consent of the couple has been obtained;
where a woman has no uterus, by transferring the resulting embryo to the uterus of another woman (a surrogate mother); here too the couple's written consent is mandatory.

Under paragraph 2 of the same article, where a child is born the couple are considered the parents, and neither the donor nor the surrogate mother may be recognised as the child's parent.

Two conclusions follow. First, the entire structure rests on the couple's written consent. Second, the law is silent on what happens once an embryo has been created and frozen and a dispute has arisen. Documentation fills that gap.

What the "ten-year period" actually means?

It is often assumed that embryo storage in Georgia is capped at ten years. That is inaccurate.

The ten-year figure appears in Article 19(2) of the Rule on Registration of Civil Acts, approved by Order No. 18 of the Minister of Justice of Georgia of 31 January 2012, in the redaction established by Order No. 598 of 25 August 2020. The provision states that where an embryo was cryopreserved after creation and the period from creation to implantation does not exceed ten years, the agreement must be concluded before implantation.

The ten-year period is therefore a condition of birth registration, not a storage limit. It defines the window within which an embryo may be used so that the child's parentage can subsequently be registered. How long the embryo is actually stored remains a matter for the agreement with the clinic.

The single most important document: the pre-freezing certificate

Article 19(2) imposes a further requirement that is often overlooked. Where cryopreservation has taken place, the agency must be provided with a certificate drawn up before freezing, identifying the couple who will be recorded as the child's parents after birth.

This certificate is the only document that links specific frozen embryos to specific individuals in advance and on a dated basis. Whether it exists determines whether a child born from those embryos can be registered to those parents in Georgia at all.

The conclusion for patients is straightforward: request and retain this certificate at the time of freezing, not once a dispute has already begun.

What the state form requires about donors?

Annex No. 2 to Order No. 18 is the approved form of the certificate confirming in vitro fertilisation. It is particularly instructive because the state itself specifies what must be recorded.

The form provides for:

full identification of the persons to be recorded as parents, the potential mother and father;
identification of the surrogate mother;
an indication of whether donor biological material was used, across four possible configurations;
the name, surname, date of birth, nationality and passport or identity document number of Donor I and Donor II;
the date, place and number of embryos created;
cryopreservation data: date and place of freezing, date of importation into Georgia and the border crossing point used, and the number of embryos thawed and implanted.

Donor identification is therefore not an internal clinic matter. It is a mandatory field on a state form. Where the donor field in embryological or medical records is left blank, that is not a clerical omission but a break in the chain on which subsequent registration depends.

Article 19(2¹) adds that where the embryo was not created at the institution performing the implantation, information about the embryo must be entered on the basis of the document confirming its creation, which must be attached to the certificate.

Who can be a party to the agreement?

Under Article 19(1¹), a party to the agreement may only be a couple consisting of a woman and a man, whose purpose is to raise a child born through in vitro fertilisation, and who either:

have been married for at least one year; or
have been in de facto cohabitation for at least the last one year.

Article 19(1²) provides that de facto cohabitation must be established before the notary by specific documents: an information and address card confirming registration at a single address, an extract from the public registry confirming co-ownership of property intended for common use, a document confirming a religious marriage, or another document.

A single person, or a same-sex couple, does not fall within this definition. This is examined separately in Who Can Use Surrogacy in Georgia: The Couple Requirement Explained.

The form the agreement must take

Article 19(1)(b) requires the agreement to be concluded before the embryo is created, except in the cryopreservation scenario, where it is concluded before implantation, and to be certified by a public notarial act.

The notarial side is governed by Article 54¹ of the Instruction approved by Order No. 71 of the Minister of Justice of 31 March 2010, as added by Order No. 614 of 21 September 2020:

the parties must approach a single notary and sign a notarial act;
the surrogate mother must appear before the notary in person; she may not conclude such a transaction through a representative;
the donor must provide the notary with a certificate from the medical institution confirming the fact of her or his donation;
if that certificate is not provided, or is considered unreliable, the notary is obliged to refuse to perform the notarial act.

Documentary confirmation of the donor is therefore a precondition, not a formality.

What a patient can do if the clinic ends treatment?

Four parallel steps are available.

Request the medical records. Article 17 of the Law of Georgia on the Rights of the Patient entitles the patient, and with the patient's consent, a relative or legal representative, to review medical records and obtain copies of any part of them. The request must be submitted to the medical institution in writing.

Identify the consent forms. Article 143 of the Health Care Law builds the entire procedure on the couple's written consent. If that consent does not exist, or was signed by a person who took no actual part in the procedure, that is a substantive defect.

Apply to the regulator. The Regulation Agency for Medical and Pharmaceutical Activities has inspection powers, including review and seizure of documentation. An application does not require court proceedings to have been commenced first.

Seek urgent judicial protection. Articles 191 to 199 of the Civil Procedure Code of Georgia allow an application to secure a claim to be made even before the claim itself is filed. Article 198 provides for prohibiting the respondent from performing specified acts, here, thawing, destruction or transfer. The central argument is irreversibility: destruction cannot be undone, whereas continued storage imposes a minimal and compensable burden on the respondent. Note that the court may require counter-security, meaning a sum deposited at short notice.

Our team acts in matters of this kind: Medical Law

Confidentiality and identity verification

Clinics frequently decline to release information on the ground that the requester's identity has not been verified. That position is partly justified.

Article 27 of the Law on the Rights of the Patient obliges a healthcare provider to protect the confidentiality of patient information both during the patient's life and after death. Article 28 permits disclosure only in specified circumstances, including with the patient's consent.

The practical conclusion is that the request should be formalised from the outset: in writing, with an identity document, and, where a representative is acting, with a duly certified power of attorney. That removes the institution's procedural grounds for delay.

Frequently asked questions

Can a clinic destroy an embryo without the patient's consent? No provision expressly prohibits it, but none confers the power either. The question turns on the informed consent form and the agreement with the clinic. This is why it matters that patients hold copies of both.

How long are frozen embryos stored in Georgia? The legislation sets no maximum storage period. The ten-year period concerns the possibility of birth registration, not storage.

Can embryos be transferred to another clinic? The legislation does not prohibit it, but neither does it oblige a clinic to agree. In practice the consent of both the releasing and the receiving institution is required.

Can a single person begin a programme in Georgia? Article 19(1¹) of Order No. 18 defines the party to the agreement as a couple consisting of a woman and a man.

What happens if the agreement cannot be produced? Under Article 19(6), no parents are recorded in the civil act of birth, and the child's name and surname are entered on the application of the guardianship and custody authority.