Judge grants woman access to her dead husband’s sperm

Before her husband died, a B.C. woman promised him she would use his stored sperm to have the baby they both wanted if he died.

But the woman, identified only by the initials K.L.W. in a court ruling, hadn’t been advised that the fertility clinic storing the sperm required the written consent of her husband, identified as A.B., to make use of the sperm in the event of his death.

She had to file a petition in court to get permission for release of the sperm.

A ruling noted A.B. was diagnosed with a medical condition that required numerous hospitalizations. In October 2009, A.B. had his sperm extracted. It was frozen and stored at Genesis Fertility Centre in Vancouver. In 2011, A.B. died.

In his ruling agreeing to release the sperm to K.L.W., B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Pearlman noted the couple spoke to a social worker, a registered nurse, family members and A.B.’s family physician of their plan to conceive a child even if he died.

“To deny the petitioner the use of the reproductive material intended by A.B. would be both unfair and an affront to her dignity.”

Genesis did not partake in the proceedings and the petition went unopposed.