Our son died. Now we can use his sperm to have a grandchild | Hacker News Reader

Our son died. Now we can use his sperm to have a grandchild

bbc.com

13 pointsdeafpolygon18 comments

This sounds like a convoluted way for the parents to continue their family's patrilineality, given the parents are no longer of a suitable age to conceive another son:

> The couple say they approached the court because they wanted to carry on his "legacy" and that the order would help them preserve a connection with him and help their family name to continue.

I don’t object to the idea itself, but the implication that two girls are not good enough descendants ties in with ancient and distasteful Indian prejudices.

If I read this correctly, they'll fertilise their daughter with frozen sperm from her deceased brother? That's like, post-mortem incest. The risk of cancer will be higher.

No, it says "their two daughters have given an undertaking in court that they will take full responsibility for the child.."

and

"She added that the family was considering using his sperm in surrogacy and that a relative had agreed to be the surrogate. “We will keep it in the family,” she said. Under Indian law commercial surrogacy is illegal."

So it seems the daughters agree to take responsibility, but there will be a surrogate.

I foresee a future where people obtain genetic samples of their long-dead ancestors and they decide to clone and gestate them in artificial wombs.

Imagine a weird youtube channel that is a combination of urban exploration / it's just a prank bro / DIY science where they break into a crypt to dig up the bones of some historical figure to grow a clone in a vat for clout.

If the son is not around to raise the child it's a bad and selfish idea.

"they would bring up any child born using their son’s semen sample. And in the event of their death, their two daughters have given an undertaking in court that they will take full responsibility for the child."

The sister has even volunteered to be the surrogate. Hopefully it's a gestational surrogacy.

Is it really worse than anyone going to a sperm bank and conceiving with a stranger's sperm?

> and that he had not left any written or oral consent for the use of his frozen sperm

Presumably he intended to save it to have the option later to use it if that's what he decided to do. That's very different than consenting to allow a donatee to use it.

To me yes, it just feels kind of morbid. “This is the grandkid we made from our dead son…” vs “this is my son, we conceived him using surrogacy after we lost our other son tragically”.

I’ll admit that there could be a cultural component that is in play that may change the perception where they live.

In India it's anyway not uncommon for grandparents to help raise kids while the parents are away at work.

Please tell me the content isn't as cursed as the title suggests

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