Would you encourage this widow?
She won, but what about the child?
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Comments (2)
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Seems pretty morbid to me. I hope that this woman gets herself together emotionally before actually having a baby, because I would expect a lot of possible problems in bringing him/her up otherwise.
Posted on April 8, 2008 6:51 AM
If there are no legal constraints she is free, of course, to do as she pleases; but there are some rather relevant questions that naturally arise in regard to the well being of the child.
And I agree, Namtac; there is an element of morbidity regarding the way the sperm was extracted from the corpse of the deceased. If he had given the sperm as a living, consenting adult that aspect of it would be of little concern.
The real issue is the well being of the child. There are two basic outcomes:
The best-case scenario is that she would be a good, caring mother who would raise the child in the knowledge that his/her father was a hero who gave his life in the service of his country. One would also hope that she would re-marry and that the stepfather would also be a responsible parent and honor the father's memory.
The worst-case scenario would be that this is just a distraught widow's selfish attempt to hang on to the father's memory, and that she would fail to be a good mother, being focused more on the deceased husband than the child. If she did not re-marry a mature, understanding man he might resent the father's rather looming heroic memory. And it could be somewhat difficult to explain to the mature child just how the whole thing was carried out; especially since it's public knowledge now.
But, in every marriage situation these days the odds are slim that there will be an optimum parent-child outcome, given the divorce statistics and frequent abuse reports. It does show a devotion to the father and his memory, and a desire to carry on his legacy in the child they so desired. Medical science makes possible all sorts of birth options today; so in that light, it isn't as strange as it once may have been.
I guess I don't see any overt moral contrainst here; it's just a bit quirky and out of the ordinary - but I suppose it's her call.
Posted on April 8, 2008 8:12 AM