A Couple Breaks Up. Who Gets Custody of Their Embryos?

As more people in the United States use I.V.F. to have children, embryos are being stored in fertility clinics across the country. It raises the question: What should happen to those embryos if a couple breaks up? Caroline Kitchener, who covers families for The New York Times, tells the story of Erin Millender, who took a custody battle over frozen embryos to court after her husband revoked his consent to use them. Guest: Caroline Kitchener (https://www.nytimes.com/by/caroline-k...) , a New York Times reporter, writing about the American family. Background reading:  • They started I.V.F., and then split. Now who gets custody of the embryos (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/24/us...) ? Photo: Kim Raff for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-t...) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts (http://nytimes.com/podcasts) or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-acce.... For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.