Comments on: Widow seeks new life after death

By: Reg

Reg — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:56:42 +0000

looks like a long, slow, painful, multi-generational lesson to be learned the hard way

talk about “doing what is best for a child”

gives a whole new meaning to the word/concept father and father-child relations

By: Cheryl D.

Cheryl D. — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:00:32 +0000

HRW, Thought about it, not in a position to do it. (And I wouldn’t consider infants or boys, but girls who were likely not to have a home at all otherwise.) But I’m not pursuing it, as I’m not in a position to do that.

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By: hrw

hrw — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:15:07 +0000

As JJF attests there are several reasons why its a bad idea and as illama points out her story doesn’t make sense, however, if I were dead what people do with my sperm really doesn’t matter.

Cheryl
you’ve been a foster mom several times, I beleive you write or edit children’s books, so your desire to have children is apparent. Now I can understand your position against pre-marital pregnancy, but have you thought of adoption? Just curious you don’t have to answer.

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By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:42:56 +0000

To have a child without a father is just wrong!
To lose a father is bad enough, but to have a child without a father is just wrong for the child!

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By: jjf

jjf — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:53:43 +0000

I’m puzzled by the strong personal reactions. I think it’s a bad idea for practical, spiritual, and psychological reasons, but my opposition is entirely intellectual, not at all visceral. That is, other than thinking it’s a bad idea, I wouldn’t care one bit if my wife extracted sperm from my recently dead body.

It’s not like I’m using it for something else.

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By: Cheryl D.

Cheryl D. — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:46:01 +0000

I went to school with a couple who were excited to announce their pregnancy…and a few months later the husband died suddenly, before his son was born. I always thought that if I’d been that wife, I would have been so glad to have my husband’s baby. It would be hard, and I hope he had good life insurance, but I think I’d still be happy to be pregnant.

As a single woman who wants children, but cannot morally have them, I sympathize with this woman. She may or may not have a chance to marry again. I think what she is doing is unwise, but in her situation I think I’d want to do it, and have to remind myself it isn’t a good idea–that there’s a difference in losing a spouse through death when one is already pregnant and deliberately choosing to be a single mother. (She could justify it to herself pretty easily–she was married to him, she could have just as easily already been pregnant by him…) But I think it would be pretty hard to explain to a child, “Yeah, your dad was already dead, but I wanted a kid, and so I had you.”

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By: Peter L

Peter L — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:44:12 +0000

Her right? Maybe. Ethical? I cannot say, but stubob makes a good point. Would I want it done? Not on my dead body!

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By: Frank in Phoenix

Frank in Phoenix — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:41:06 +0000

Seeking to create a new human life by the seed of the dead? What a perverse intersection between necrophilia and narcisism.

God’s law provides that newly married men are not to go to war, but rather they are to spend their first year at home with their wives (Deut. 20:5-8). As Dr. John Robbins points out, in God’s eceonomy,

[T]he private interest of these men to enjoy their new homes, vineyards, and wives is superior to the public interest of the nation. That statement should give pause to those who believe that everybody owes a legally enforceable “debt” to his country. The Bible explicitly says that the enjoyment of these domestic pleasures is more important than the public interest.

Thus the time for conception was before Sgt. Dhanoolal was sent overseas, not after he was killed. (Which isn’t necessarily the same thing as saying she should be legally barred from doing this. Still, that judge needs his head examined.)

StuBob also makes an excellent point: Why is this women intent on conceiving a child whose father is already dead?

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By: krm

krm — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:16:54 +0000

As his widow, she likely has the full legal right to do this.

As a recent widow, I can not bring myself to be too harsh with her. One shouldn’t be quick to jump on things that newly grieving people do.

I would hope that she doesn’t rush to action. And I would hope that she later decides not to prodeed.

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By: metanoia

metanoia — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:04:21 +0000

In a weird sort of way, isn’t this necrophilia?

My, my, the ethical questions that modern science has created.

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