Legal Updates

A deceased’s frozen sperm may not be used unless he expressed his wishes that so be done

September 2, 2019
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A young man who was about to marry was murdered and at his parents' request, after his death, sperm was extracted from his body and frozen. Twelve years later, his parents moved to use the frozen sperm to fertilize the deceased sister's childhood friend.
The Supreme Court rejected the motion of the deceased parents to use his sperm to bear them a grandchild. Where a person who had a permanent spouse died without expressing himself (in writing or otherwise) for his or her consent to extract sperm from his body and use it after his death, there is a presumption of the "presumed will" of the deceased to have his spouse bear his children even after his death. Therefore, as a general rule, the spouse, and not anyone else - including the deceased parents - may use the sperm for her own reproduction. Here. the spouse did not object, but also did not wish to conceive from the deceased. Using the sperm of a deceased person to bear children will only be done while respecting the deceased's will and not the interests or desires of others. Therefore, in the absence of clear indications of the presumed will of the deceased, his parents cannot be granted the right to use his sperm for the bearing of a grandson.