A unusual and emotionally charged legal case has arisen in Mumbai, in which a mother is battling to use her late son’s frozen sperm to become a grandmother.
The unmarried man had decided to freeze his semen before he started chemotherapy. He had signed a consent form, though, indicating that if he died, the sample must be destroyed.
Following his death earlier this year, his mother went to the fertility clinic where the semen was being kept and asked them to transfer it to an IVF centre in Gujarat for possible use in assisted reproduction, a news agency PTI report said.
The fertility clinic, nevertheless, rejected the request. They referenced the man’s clear directive to dispose of the sperm after his death and referred to the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, that needs legal sanction in such delicate situations to prevent ethical and procedural lapses.
Mother Moves Bombay High Court
Not ready to agree with the clinic’s denial, the mother submitted a petition in the Bombay High Court. According to her, her son signed the consent form without consulting his relatives, and she feels the semen sample must not be discarded. She wants to use it to maintain their family bloodline and have grandchildren.
Acting on the appeal, the court granted an interim order on June 25 directing the fertility clinic to retain the frozen sample pending hearing of the case in its entirety on July 30.
The judge noted that the case raises serious legal and ethical questions under the ART Act, specifically on the disposition of stored genes after the death of the donor.