this is "nightline." >> tonight, life on trial. their hopes for more children crushed when a fertility clinic malfunction destroyed their embryos. >> obviously there has to be some kind of criminal responsibility when we've left lives in their hands. >> now they're in court fighting for those lost embryos to be considered real people. but could a ruling that embryos are people lead to overturning roe v. wade? plus the mystery of me. a curious dna test unraveling a long-kept family secret. >> he says, there's not an easy way for me to tell you this, but i'm your biological father. >> when her world turned upside down, she turned to a private facebook support group. now with almost 2,000 members. confronting their origins

together unashamed. >> i'm not a secret, i'm a person. and in my video. ♪ kiki do you love me >> drake releasing a new video for his massively popular song "in my feelings." wait till you see the surprise cameo from a high-profile fan. but first the "nightline 5." ♪ ♪ >> any object, any surface. if you've got a life, oh! wow, you got all this stuff from ikea? what do you like not let your kids in here?

oh, no, they moved in here. here. this is where i hide all the cords and the remotes, and those clack-clack-clack things. so, this is your new bed? let's just say it fits me perfectly. what's your dream? at ikea, we help you live it. make the dream yours. at ithis is long distance with the best wifi experience, long-distance relationship. plus the most free shows to stream. and with savings on wireless, this is a relationship with more money to spend on the important things. this is how xfinity makes life... simple. easy. awesome. xfinity delivers the fastest, most reliable internet learn more, or get started for $29.99 a month for 12 months. click, call or visit a store today. oh! wow, you got all this stuff from ikea? what do you like not let your kids in here? oh, no, they moved in here. here. this is where i hide all the cords and the remotes, and those clack-clack-clack things. so, this is your new bed? let's just say it fits me perfectly. what's your dream? at ikea, we help you live it. make the dream yours.

good evening. i'm linsey davis. tonight, one couple's fight for accountability could have major implications for the future of roe versus wade after a massive fertility clinic failure, they're pushing to have their lost embryos defined as humans instead of property to hold the hospital to a higher standard. a judgment in their favor could set a legal precedent that life begins at conception. here's abc's erielle reshef. >> reporter: a vacation day at the beach. the very stuff family memories are made of. >> our minds are blown at the fact of how lucky we are and how blessed we are to have what we have. >> reporter: now wendy and rick saying dreams of having more children of their own can never come true. >> we wanted a bigger family so that our children had siblings to grow up with. >> reporter: they lost three

viable embryos in a massive fertility clinic freezer malfunction at university hospitals in cleveland earlier this year. >> i feel like somebody made a decision for us and the size of our family and how our family was going to be. i don't think that that ever goes away. >> reporter: now they're asking an ohio appellate court to declare those embryos patients. >> there has to be criminal responsibility. when we've left lives in their hands. because that's what these are. >> reporter: the law currently considers embryos and eggs physical property. at the heart of the matter, when does human life begin? is an embryo a person? >> personhood is a way of looking at when life begins. it's really stemming from the abortion movement. and defining that life begins at conception. so says personhood. in fact what we actually know is there is no moment of conception. and that's not even a medical term. yet personhood is saying that

that fertilized egg is now a person and has all the rights and responsibilities of a living human being. >> reporter: the case is reigniting a controversial debate at a time when the country's divisions run deep. if their appeal is upheld, the case could have a sweeping impact. >> when you think about the ivf process, you might say, if those are people, can we freeze them? in fact, a lot of the procedures that take place in an ivf clinic in the laboratory may actually be illegal. so declaring an embryo a person is very, very difficult for the whole field of infertility. >> if a fertilized embryo is determined to be a person, in all aspects of the law that would fundamentally change abortion laws as well, because it would effectively make abortion illegal in every state and would mean that roe versus wade is effectively being

overturned. >> reporter: for wendy the fight is deeply personal. after six miscarriages, she says her doctor encouraged her to undergo in vitro fertilization, ivf, as a protective measure. >> we wanted to go and have the procedure done so that when the time came, or if we couldn't figure out the reason behind my miscarriages, that we would at least have the embryos frozen so that we could have children in some way in the future. >> reporter: she was able to have her son and daughter without using any of her embryos. but the couple's world changed with a letter they got in the mail. >> i think we were just shocked, confused. the letter was very generic. it gave you a phone number to call. >> reporter: their three embryos were destroyed. >> it's a kind of grieving that it's hard because you don't have something tangible to grieve to. >> they've essentially denied her the ability to continue motherhood. >> reporter: they sued university hospital health system in march for gross neglect, asking a judge to

declare the legal status of embryos that of a person. the judge dismissing the lawsuit. but they on wednesday filing an appeal arguing that had the defendant treated these embryos as patients and as persons, immediate steps would have been taken to prevent their loss. >> they're in the business of helping us create life. so how would they not in any way, shape or form think that that wasn't their utmost priority, to hold the lives that they're creating with us to, you know, higher standards? >> unfortunately we have to go through this process to kind of prove our point, which is there was gross neglect, there needs to be regulation. those lives were our children. >> reporter: in a statement to abc news, university hospitals saying the previous court ruling on this matter reflects ohio law with regard to embryos. we will continue to address the litigation based on ohio statutes and case law. we are profoundly sorry for the loss experienced by all of the families involved. all of us at university

hospitals remain dedicated to supporting our patients and we continue to work with the court and patients' counsel to move these cases toward resolution. they're among 950 families whose 4,000 eggs and embryos did not survive after temperature fluctuations in the clinic's cryogenic storage tanks. in march the story made national headlines as patients came forward describing their heartache. >> devastating news of that malfunction. >> two fertility clinic failures -- >> growing calls for fighter regulation. >> there were more eggs and embryos affected than first estimated and it's unlikely that any of viable. >> reporter: the eggs and embryos were stored in a high-tech tank filled with liquid nitrogen. sensors should have been monitoring the temperature automatically, refilling the liquid mirt jen as needed. an alarm sounding if temperature rose. in a letter the hospital told patients the auto fill wasn't working and they were filling the tank manually. that alarm that was supposed to alert if something was wrong was

off. danielle learned of the incident from her mother. >> my mom called and said she saw something on the news about an issue at a fertility clinic in cleveland. i called the hotline number, immediately they answered and asked my name, and she said my eggs were compromised. i hung up on her and was screaming. >> reporter: it was devastating news for the single 37-year-old who had been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer three years earlier. she was told that she needed to undergo life-saving chemotherapy. >> they told me that i would pretty much definitely lose my fertility. >> reporter: she immediately decided to freeze her eggs, even though she says doctors warned her that delaying chemotherapy is a huge risk. >> i told her that it was so important to me that i had to do everything in my power to make sure that i could have that in my future one day. >> reporter: doctors at university hospital extracted 33 of her eggs. 24 of them were viable. then she started chemo. through it all, the dream of a

future baby. >> i just kept picturing the day when i would hold her and look in her eyes. >> reporter: she and two other breast cancer survivors decided to go to famed women's rights attorney gloria allred. >> no amount of money is ever going to compensate these three brave cancer survivors. we want them to be able to fight back in order to make those who are responsible accountable. >> i would think the hospital would want to settle this. they would want to make this go away. but that may be impossible based on the numbers that certain people will ask for. >> i think my husband and i feel a lot of guilt because of the fact that we have two very healthy, beautiful children, but there's many that didn't even have that luxury. so we constantly think about those people and want to be the voice of those parents as well. >> reporter: wendy says she's aware that a decision in her

favor could have far-reaching effects. >> from a humane perspective, we have to be the advocate for these babies that can't speak for themselves. next, the search for their roots turned their lives upside down. they're now supporting each other in an invite-only facebook group. to severe plaque psoriasis. i'm ready. with tremfya®, you can get clearer. and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. ask your doctor about tremfya®.

tremfya®. because you deserve to stay clearer. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options. i love you, basement bathroom of solitude, but sometimes you stink. febreze air effects doesn't just mask, it cleans away odors. because the things you love can stink. with our largest variety of crab all year! or try crab lover's dream. but hurry in. 'cause crabfest will be gone in a snap. i knew at that exact moment ... i'm beating this. my main focus was to find a team of doctors. it's not just picking a surgeon,

it's picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. visit cancercenter.com/breast your digestive system has billions of bacteria but life can throw them off balance. re-align yourself with align probiotic. and try new align gummies with prebiotics and probiotics to help support digestive health. designed to save you money. wireless network even when you've got serious binging to do. wherever your phone takes you, your wireless bill is about to cost a whole lot less.

use less data with a network that has the most wifi hotspots where you need them and the best 4g lte everywhere else. saving you hundreds of dollars a year. and ask how you get xfinity mobile included with your internet. plus, get $300 back when you buy a new smartphone. xfinity mobile. it's simple. easy. awesome. click, call or visit a store today.

tonight we take you inside a private facebook group where strangers are supporting each other through divvies they won't even reveal to their closest loved ones. they come from different

backgrounds and different places, but they share one thing in common. they are not who they always thought they were. here's "nightline" coanchor juju chang. >> my dad was my best friend. >> reporter: even as an adult, hope la monica was daddy's little girl. >> we would talk to the phone three to four times a week. we talked about dating. marriage. his golf game. everything. >> reporter: the 51-year-old daughter of an army sergeant, hope grew up with her father often away. >> he was usually gone. quite a bit. so it was just me and my mom. the relationship wasn't the best with my mom. >> but you managed to build a beautiful family on your own. >> reporter: a beautiful family taken for granted. but a routine dna test searching for ancestral links to africa would throw all of that into question. so you're excited to see sort of

where your heritage is from. >> right. then as you're looking, on the next page it says, "see who you match up with." >> what did you find? >> the first person i was matched with, it said, this person, they're either your parent, your child, or your identical twin. >> did you have a child at that point? that you didn't know about? >> that i didn't know about, no. >> so alarm bells go off? >> immediately. i think i immediately start shaking. and my heart was pounding. >> reporter: convinced there must be some sort of mistake, hope reached out to her genetic match. >> i sent a message to them through ancestry. and i said, i just got these results, and i don't understand what they mean. i finally said to him, my dad's name was wheeler and my mom's name was lillian, and i was born in albuquerque. and that was when he responded back and said, i think i know what this means. he said, my heart is pounding.

and i don't want to cause you any pain. >> what's going through your mind? >> what pain is he going to cause me? what is he going to tell me? >> reporter: then came the call that sent her into shock. >> he said, my name is melvin, there's not an easy way for me to say this, he says, but i'm your biological father. >> how did that hit you? >> i remember tears immediately streamed down my face. shock. i'm thinking, how could this possibly be? i have a father. my dad raised me. this can't be happening. >> reporter: melvin told her that while the dad who raised her had been stationed abroad, hee had a brief affair with her mother, not knowing she was married. hope's mom later told melvin she'd become pregnant, but then took the secret to her grave. >> i went through stages where i was --ni k-- i didn't know whet

be angry or upset because of the denial and the secret that had been kept. >> reporter: in despair hope turned to social media to see if there were others like her. her search led to this woman, katherine st. clair, who started a facebook group called dnanpe friends, "not parent st. clair too discovered stunning results when she received a dna birthday present from her siblings. >> when i came to the realization my brother and i were half-siblings i looked up and the ceiling tiles started swirling like an lsd trip. >> reporter: she creted this discreet, invitation-only facebook group. >> we said, maybe we can find people we can talk to. we set a lofty goal, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could get as many as 12? >> reporter: it's ballooned to over 2,200. for npe members, the group has been a lifeline. >> to us these people are coming to us with a raw, open wound.

and there's nope to administer medical help to that wound, if you will. >> do you ever encounter those moments where people think, well, maybe -- you know -- just let sleeping dogs lie? >> oh, sure, we hear that all the time. and we're ridiculed. ridiculed a lot. because the attitude is, you shouldn't be talking about this. >> why air the dirty laundry? >> exactly. but that's calling me dirty laundry. i'm not dirty laundry, i'm a human being. i'm not a secret, i'm a person. >> reporter: for hope, it was time to confront her new reality. the father who raised her confessed he'd always known her mother's secret but agreed to raise hope as his own. >> i remember him looking at me and apologizing. and he just said, i'm sorry, can you forgive me? and i'm like, there's nothing to forgive, you were trying to protect me. >> i understand that in his dying days, he had a wish for

you. >> that he wanted me to meet my dad. and that he would always be my daddy. >> reporter: hope still needed one more blessing before she could track down that voice on the other end of the phone. her daughter's. >> i felt like i didn't want to open pandora's box. didn't know what other secrets there were. you know, that this was going to end up really bad. i think once my grandfather passed away is when i became a little more open to it. >> reporter: after weeks of long conversations, hope's biological father melvin traveled from georgia to colorado to meet face-to-face. >> they came to the door and him and his wife -- and immediately he embraced me. and we just held each other. >> what did that hug feel like? >> completeness. yes, i had my daddy who raised me. but this was the other part of me. i have a happy story, but there's so many people in our group that don't.

they will contact their biological father, their siblings, and they don't believe them. and they say the test isn't true, this is a secret. and so there's that rejection. >> reporter: hope's online family helping her come to terms with the newly discovered one. >> i was really lost when i found out. i went through a stage of depression, definitely. definitely a roller coaster. >> you said you were lost, and now? >> i'm found. >> reporter: and on this day, another highly anticipated meeting. after more than a year of near-condition stant contact, hope and katherine are about to meet in person. what was it like meeting face-to-face? >> magical. >> no. >> yeah, it was magical. because you are like family in a funny way. >> we are, yes. >> it's more than just like a fraternity, with us. in a fraternity, they share beer. we're sharing our souls. >> reporter: and sharing with others a lesson they learned the

hard way, that being family means a lot more than just sharing dna. what do you think about the father who raised you? i know he passed. >> he was so remarkable. remarkable man. >> what a big heart. >> very big heart. >> you're lucky. >> i am very lucky. most people don't have one good father, i ended up with two good dads. >> oh god, you're making me cry. ♪ kiki do you love me >> next, the new "in my feelings" video dropping to massive numbers. there's one special guest cameo that has everyone talking.

(door bell rings) it's ohey. this is amazing. with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay? even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts. so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb.

tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, control is possible. - ( phone ringing ) - big button, and volume-enhanced phones. get details on this state program. visit right now or call during business hours.

monitor their blood glucose every day. which means they have to stop. and stick their fingers. repeatedly. today, life-changing technology from abbott makes it possible to track glucose levels. without drawing a drop of blood, again and again. the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. life. to the fullest.

this is long distance with the best wifi experience, long-distance relationship. plus the most free shows to stream. and with savings on wireless, this is a relationship with more money to spend on the important things. this is how xfinity makes life... simple. easy. awesome. xfinity delivers the fastest, most reliable internet learn more, or get started for $29.99 a month for 12 months. click, call or visit a store today. ...you discover paint bleed you under your tape...... not with frogtape! frogtape is the only painter's tape treated with patented paintblock technology. paintblock reacts with the water in latex paint to form a micro-barrier against paint bleed, giving you the sharpest lines possible.

get professional results with frogtape... no messy lines, no paint bleed. for sharp lines every time, frog it! and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. and finally tonight, the new release that has us in our feelings. ♪ do you love me >> the song is already a major hit. thanks to a comedian named shiggy, an international dance craze. now drake is giving it a

brand-new video, erupting into a booty-shaking, bust-bouncing block party. it's the surprise cameo that has everyone talking. >> i just had a dream i made some song about some girl, kid from new york, did some dance to it -- >> drake, sir? we're ready for you. >> that's right, shiggy himself. the man who launched a thousand dance videos busting into drake's universe one more time. thanks so much for watching "nightline." as always, we're online at our "n