Mother hopes for change to ‘archaic’ rules on having baby after death

USING a dead person’s sperm or eggs to have a baby should be allowed if they gave consent,

Kiwis believe.

Health officials have been looking to tidy up the law regarding the issue since 2018, after two women turned to the courts to get permission to retrieve sperm from their deceased partners.

The cases exposed gaps in the current rules, and the Ministry of Health consulted with the public on whether, and in what circumstances, posthumous reproduction is acceptable.

Stage two consultation on the proposed guidelines for the posthumous use of genetic materials, run by the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ACART), found respondents believed consent was important.

Some form of consent, whether verbal or written, was needed for a person’s sperm or eggs to be used, 74 per cent of respondents said.

Sixty per cent of respondents believed sperm or eggs shouldn’t be retrieved from those under the age of 16 for reproduction. However, 85 per cent agreed if a minor had frozen gametes, they should be able to place the conditions they want on them after they turn 16.

West Aucklander Sharon Murphy’s son Cameron Duncan died of bone cancer in 2003, at the age of 17. Before starting chemotherapy in 2002, he banked his sperm, knowing the treatment might destroy his fertility.

In his will, he gifted the sperm to his mother, so she might have a grandchild – but she has been fighting to use it ever since.

Cameron was a promising filmmaker mentored by Hollywood power couple Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. His illness inspired Walsh’s Oscar-winning song Into the West, the closing song in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

The original plan was for Cameron’s sister’s girlfriend to be impregnated with Cameron’s sperm but Murphy was told as Cameron banked his sperm at the age of 15, it could not be used.

She was also told as he had consented to leaving the sperm to her, no-one else would be allowed to use it.

‘‘It’s ridiculous, I mean, he was 15 when he signed the forms and obviously didn’t have a long-term partner or wife, so he left it to his mum,’’ she said.

‘‘Of course he didn’t mean that I was the one who would have to become pregnant.’’

The existing guidelines, dating back to 2000, say nobody has the right to use sperm stored by a minor aged under 16, except the person himself.

Murphy said Cameron has always known he wanted to be a father one day, and she knew by keeping his sperm frozen she could one day make this a reality for him.

His sperm was cryogenically frozen at a fertility service in Auckland. Murphy recently sought permission for it to be stored for another 10 years.

She said she believed she had probably spent around $10,000 storing the sperm since Cameron’s death.

‘‘I think it might be too late for my family now. I got tired of all the fighting and the money it took to go through the courts, but I don’t know, I just haven’t let it go yet.

‘‘I hope these guidelines are changed, because they’re archaic. Maybe it can help some other family out there.’’

ACART spokesman Martin Kennedy said the next step is to submit its advice to the minister of health.

‘‘It’s likely to make the submission within the next few weeks,’’ Kennedy said.

‘‘ACART is likely to publish the guidelines within a few months of advising the minister, but the exact timing isn’t fixed.

‘‘The minister might have questions for ACART, or he might wish to consider parallel advice about the proposed guidelines from the Ministry of Health before responding.’’