Posted on 04/05/2008 9:21:47 PM PDT by BGHater
The widow of a soldier killed in Iraq this week wants to harvest her husband's sperm before he's embalmed. He was stationed at Fort Benning.
Yesterday his wife filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and an injunction to stop her deceased husband's remains from being altered until his sperm can be reserved. A judge signed that order Friday.
The soldier's wife claims they planned to start a family once he came home. His sperm will be extracted within 72 hours, but the medical representative will retain custody until it is determined who has legal rights to the sperm.
The media needs to leave her alone. This is none of our business.
Want to start a family with a dead mans sperm? Get a grip woman.... go grieve a bit then hopefully find another man to marry and start a family with a live father and husband.
Yeah, this is kinda creepy. I can see why she’d want it, but it’s still creepy. Can’t she turn his ashes into a nice diamond or something?
Exactly. Let’s let this fallen serviceman and his widow have some dignity. We have no idea what he would have wanted, or what record he might have left as to what he wanted, and we have no business trying to find out.
It would be a good idea if the military would offer free sperm cryostorage to servicemen being deployed to combat zones. Cryostorage contracts routinely contain directives about the disposition of the sperm in the event of death, divorce, etc. This would be good not only for servicemen killed in action, but for those who return alive but too severely maimed to produce sperm anymore, and also for those whose wives’ fertility clocks are running out of time while their husbands are off risking their lives in our country’s service. I’ve read that some are doing this at their own expense, but it’s a bit pricey on an enlisted man’s salary.
It sounds like he wanted very much to have children, and she is a loving wife who is honoring his wishes.
I find it hard to imagine sperm stays alive that long after death to be of use, but she’s in charge of the body, so it should be up to her.
It's a Dr. Laura moment. A single parent family with no father and no significant income without "mom" taking a full time job. Someday the kid will get around to simple subtraction and realize that more than 9 months elapsed between the death of the bio dad and his/her own date of birth.
So, who is going to be the father? The Government?
These are the kinds of rash, emotional decisions that give women a bad name.
Maybe some of us are just old fashioned and believe every child should come into this world with the original intent of having a live father. Hopefully the widow will take time to heal before any rash decisions are made.
I feel for the woman, but this is jsut a tad bit too creepy for me.
Well, something similar to this has happened before, although not under circumstances of war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/305302.stm
A related thought: There may be some who would say all soldiers should freeze their gametes prior to deployment, what with Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome, and other conditions they might contract overseas that might affect their ability to produce a healthy child. It is a difficult situation, one that as a Catholic I cannot support, though.
I’m no medical expert, but I find it hard to believe it’s possible to extract viable semen from a week-old corpse...
Very Creepy, and I hope she is paying the bill to get this done.
I wonder if the baby to be will receive “survivor” benefits?
They should have done their thing before he was deployed. Don’t wait for him to return.
I wonder if the husband’s family is wealthy.
I believe the child will be eligible for full benefits. A man in our small town had three women pregnant at the time of his death. Yes, they are all receiving full benefits from soical security.
I would be willing to support this women, if she would be willing to not take the benefits. I believe that she is doing this just to receive more money from the government. I find it hard to believe that if they really wanted children they would not have had some sperm saved before deploying. She needs to get on with her life and stop getting as much as she can out of her dead husband.
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