Leading Article: The gift of conception from beyond the grave

THE FIRST reaction to our report today that increasing numbers of children are being conceived by "fathers beyond the grave" is likely to be one of unease. There's an obvious danger that such children will be burdened by the feeling that they are human memorials to their dead fathers, from whose frozen sperm they have been posthumously conceived. But we should beware of being too judgmental about the motives of the mothers concerned. If they want to have a child who shares some of the genetic traits of a much-loved and mourned man, who is to say that is unhealthy, morbid or unwise? Any woman who makes such a decision, and whose partner has already given his written consent, or even stored some sperm, is likely to have given the issue serious thought. Indeed, they are likely to have given the question of bringing a child into the world more serious thought than many "ordinary" parents.

That is why we should dismiss out of hand the concerns of Professor Robert Edelmann, who complains that fertility treatment is "increasingly becoming based on the desires and rights of the adult" rather than those of the child.

Children have always been born because of what adults wanted: no child asks to be born. The difference today is in the technology, and there will be many more ways of producing children in future. The same motives that drive mothers to have children after their fathers' deaths will lead in time to human cloning. So the motives of parents do matter, but this is a question which goes much wider than the desire to have a child as a way of preserving the memory of a loved one.

Of course, ideally, it is better for a child to have two loving parents. But one loving and committed parent is better than two who could not care less. The real problems of parents who have children for the wrong reasons are those of young mothers with low self-esteem; thoughtless dual career couples who think 20 minutes a day of quality time will make up for their permanent absence; and irresponsible fathers. The problem is not posthumous conception, but fathers who fail to shoulder their responsibilities when they are alive, as opposed to those who make provision for what happens after they die.