A Australian dish Authorized a 62-year-old widow to collect and store her recently deceased husband's sperm, but clarified that the ruling does not mean authorization for its use in conceiving a child.
The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, applied for an urgent hearing on December 18 in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, the highest judicial body in that jurisdiction Allow her to collect her husband's sperm postmortem.
Her request came in response to the fact that the hospital in the city of Perth where the body of her husband, who died aged 61, was found had not agreed to the woman's request to have the sperm removed, the ruling, handed down in December, said December 21 by Judge Fiona Seaward.
During the hearing The woman argued that both she and her husband had planned to harvest the sperm to have another baby. for the two children they had during their forty-year marriage died in separate accidents in the last decade, at the ages of 29 and 35, respectively.
Another argument pointed this out a young cousin of the woman living in the Philippines had offered herself as a surrogate mother, But the Asian country's laws forced the man, identified as Mr H, to live in the country for a period of time, alongside obstacles such as restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Judge Seaward ruled in the woman's favor and criticized the hospital for failing to comply with the plaintiff's request at a “traumatic” time. He emphasized that “the extracted and preserved sperm and associated tissues should not be used in vain without an order from this court”.
“As I made clear during the hearing, These orders are limited to authorizing the collection of semen and do not constitute authorization for the applicant's use of the semen.and they do not in any way examine whether the applicant can or could meet any legal criteria in this regard,” the judge noted.
The woman could now request that her case be transferred to another Australian jurisdiction, such as Queensland, because Western Australia does not allow posthumous insemination to use her husband's sperm, which previous analysis shows is strong enough to reproduce.