A 35-year-old British woman left infertile after cancer treatment has lost an appeal to be allowed to to use frozen embryos fertilised by her former partner. The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld the court’s earlier rejection of Natallie Evans’ submission that her human rights were infringed by British court rulings which said her former finance Howard Johnston was entitled to block her use of the embroys.

The Grand Chamber said Johnston’s withdrawal of consent for the embryos to be used after they split up did not violate the right to life, the right to respect for private and family life enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, or the prohibition of discrimination.

Johnston has asked for the six embryos that were frozen and stored prior to Evans’ treatment for ovarian cancer in 2001 to be destroyed. Evans was quoted as saying she is “distraught” at the verdict. She had described her appeal to the Grand Chamber as her last chance to have a baby.

Evans turned to the European courts after exhausting the UK legal process. Judges at the High Court and Court of Appeal in London had said the man and the woman must give their consent for the use of embroyos right up until they are implanted.

Johnston argued he did not want Evans to have his baby because he did not want the financial or emotional burden of being a father to a child he would not bring up.