Australian woman wins right to extract late husband's sperm and have baby at 62
A 62-year-old Perth woman has won the right to have sperm removed from her dead husband. The woman, who was seeking permission to remove sperm from her husband, 61, who died before Christmas, to be used to have another child via a surrogate in the Philippines.
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FollowA 62-year-old Australian woman can harvest her dead husband's sperm, after convincing a judge the pair were considering having a baby before he died. According to court records made public on Wednesday, the couple began considering having another child after their 31-year-old son died in a vehicle accident in 2019. Six years earlier, their 29-year-old daughter had drowned during a fishing trip.
The couple began looking into the possibility of using the 61-year-old husband's sperm to conceive a surrogate after being inspired by these painful experiences. The widow, who isn't allowed to be identified for legal reasons, ordered the hospital mortuary to gather and preserve her husband's sperm after he passed away at home on December 17.
However, the hospital took a long time to respond, as shown in court records, which prompted the lady to request an urgent injunction from the Western Australian Supreme Court. Researchers say reproductive tissue should ideally be collected between one and two days after death.
While granting permission for the sperm to be collected and kept, Judge Fiona Seaward stated that prior to using the sperm for fertilisation, other court approvals would be required. Although the order was placed on December 21, the public was not made aware of it until recently.
Although unusual, it is not unheard of for sperm to be harvested from dead partners in Australia. In June 2023, an Australian woman was granted permission to retrieve sperm from her 29-year-old husband, who reportedly died after slashing an artery on a broken window pane.
Posthumous fertilisation is not currently allowed in Western Australia. If the woman wants to use her late husband’s sperm, she’ll be required to transfer to another state that allows the procedure.
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