Diane Blood, the British woman who made legal history by fighting for three years to have a baby by being inseminated with her late husband Stephen's sperm, has given birth to a second baby boy.
Both children were conceived by sperm taken from her husband when he was dying from bacterial meningitis seven years ago. Because her husband had not given his written consent to use the sperm, the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) refused to allow her to be inseminated with his sperm in the UK. But they did allow her to take the sperm abroad to be treated, and she conceived her first child, Liam, after treatment at a Belgian hospital. Mrs Blood travelled to the same Belgian hospital for the treatment that resulted in her latest pregnancy and the birth of new son, Joel.
She is hoping that existing legislation will be changed, so that her husband's name can appear on the children's birth certificates. Currently, the new child's birth certificate, like that of Liam, must show the father as 'unknown'. The Government promised to amend the law retrospectively in August 2000, but the resultant Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Bill was talked out of time in April 2001 and new legislation has yet to be introduced. Lawyers acting for Mrs Blood have issued a challenge to the birth registration rules under the Human Rights Act but the case has yet to be heard.
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