Sperm can be property
Monday May 23, 2011

Sperm can be property

Monday, May 23, 2011
Media outlets are reporting that widow Jocelyn Edwards, who had earlier obtained a court order to retrieve sperm from her dead husband Mark’s body, has now obtained a court order that, as the sperm is her property, she is entitled to possess it.

The judge then said that Ms Edwards could not use the sperm for ART purposes in NSW, but might be able to take it out of NSW or out of the country, to a jurisdiction that did not require written consent from the sperm donor for a pregnancy to occur.

Professor Michael Chapman, a fertility specialist,  quoted by the ABC, stated that given her age, 40, that after repeated attempts at pregnancy through IVF cycles, Ms Edwards had at best a 50% chance of falling pregnant.

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