The article that I am going to discuss appeared on the BBC news website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6279061.stm. The article is titled Mother Wins Dead Son’s Sperm Case. This is basically allowing a family line to continue after the death of a male.

I think this article peaked my interest because of the family rights side of it but it involve family lines but the deceased is a soldier who was killed in the Gas Strip in 2002.

A couple had hired a lawyer and fought to win the right to use their deceased son’s sperm to inseminate a woman he never met. The article states that the case is a boost for family rights because the ruling meant family lines could continue even without the written consent of the male prior to death.

The parents of this soldier has his sperm extracted after his death although he had not left a will. The family had to take legal action after the hospital where their son’s sperm was stored refused to release it saying only a spouse could make such a request.

The article states that the solider who was 20 was single and had left no written expression of his desire to become a father his family claims that he had held this wish for a long time.

The soldiers parents found a volunteer who was willing to be impregnated with the sperm and raise a child. Apparently according to the soldiers mother, more than 200 women offered to help.

This legal battle took four years and friends and family presented testimony that the solider had said he wanted children.

A family rights advocate is quoted in the article saying “It’s a great gain even though it took so long.”

The soldiers parents feel that winning this case was a dream come true. Although they lost a child on the other hand they got some hope.

Do you all wonder if Israeli law will evolve to make this child legally belong to his father’s family? Is adoption involved? How is the child going to feel about all of this?