A Canada-based couple’s hope for a second child through fertility treatment has found legal backing, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court permitting them to continue assisted reproductive treatment in India.Taking up their plea, Justice Jagmohan Bansal allowed the wife—now over 50—to undergo embryo transfer for a second child using embryos created more than six years ago when she was within the permissible age.The couple, residents of Canada, had approached an IVF centre and a nursing home in 2019 to conceive a child. At the time, they were aged 47 and 48.Following pre-implantation genetic testing, four embryos were created on December 17, 2019. One embryo resulted in the birth of a girl child, while three remain preserved with the hospital.The couple approached the High Court by filing a petition against the centre and other respondents seeking permission for the woman to continue treatment and undergo embryo transfer using the preserved embryos.The plea was filed as the Assisted Reproductive Technology Act, 2021, bars such procedures for women above 50. The Bench was told that the petitioner had since crossed the age threshold.In its reply placed before the Bench, the IVF centre submitted that the woman was in good health with no major medical condition that would come in the way of carrying a second pregnancy.Appearing for the petitioners, counsel argued that the issue was squarely covered by the High Court’s judgment delivered on January 22. He submitted that the petitioners stood on a better footing since the embryos were created when the woman was below the prescribed upper age.In the precedent case, the High Court had permitted continuation of assisted reproductive treatment despite the statutory age bar.The respondents before Justice Bansal’s Bench did not dispute the applicability of the precedent, but sought an undertaking from the couple that they would be responsible in case of any injury or damage arising from the treatment.The petitioners agreed to furnish the undertaking before the competent authority within a day.Taking note of the statements of both sides and the earlier judgment, Justice Bansal allowed the petition and permitted the procedure to go ahead, subject to the couple furnishing an undertaking before the authorities concerned, taking responsibility for any medical complications.“The petition deserves to be allowed and accordingly allowed. The petitioners shall furnish an undertaking and the respondent-facility would be free to proceed with further treatment,” Justice Bansal ordered.The Bench in January had made it clear that the law could not be used to deny older couples the chance to have children through assisted medical science.The ruling came as Justice Suvir Sehgal set aside a State appellate authority’s order denying IVF and other services to a married couple, who lost their only son last year.The court ruled that there was no legal bar on the couple’s age, use of a donor egg, medical risks involved, or the fact that they have a living child, and permitted them to proceed with IVF.