Image courtesy of Wikimedia
A widow has won a court battle to prevent the frozen sperm of her dead husband from being destroyed.
Speaking outside the High Court, Beth Warren said:
“I am elated. Every good word in the dictionary. I hadn’t dared to let myself believe it would happen.”
Warren’s late husband froze his sperm before undergoing cancer treatment and signed paperwork giving permission to his wife to use the sperm after his death before dying two years ago.
However, under current regulations, his sperm were due to be destroyed in April 2015, and Warren was forced to take legal action to prevent this occurring.
Sperm can be preserved for up to 55 years under the regulations, but consent must be renewed every two years, and this was obviously impossible after the death of Warren’s husband.
Today, the High Court found in her favour and she has been permitted to preserve the frozen sperm until at least April 2023, with Mrs Justice Hogg saying in her judgement:
“The evidence indicates that both Mr Brewer and his wife were in agreement. He wanted her to have the opportunity to have his child, if she wanted, after his death.”
I am elated. Every good word in the dictionary. I hadn’t dared to let myself believe it would happen”
Beth Warren
The couple, who were together for eight years, married in a hospice six weeks before his death and she subsequently changed her surname to Warren.
