A FERTILITY expert, who also sits in the House of Lords, has indicated that he will consider introducing a back bench Bill to change the law which saw a woman lose a High Court battle for the right to have her dead husband's child by artificial insemination.
Lord Robert Winston, a Professor of Fertility at London University, said he did not believe Ms Diane Blood's wish to have the family that she and her husband had planned was a threat to society. "I don't see any possible damage to the fabric of our society if this woman has the chance of using her husband's sperm to produce a pregnancy," he said.
In the aftermath of Ms Blood's 18 month court case an appeal fund has been set up to help finance any further legal hearings.
Meanwhile, Ms Blood said that having a baby "would mean I have got the rest of my life back. My husband died and I lost a part of my life, and nothing can replace that. This isn't some kind of substitute. But I believed I was pregnant at the time he died. He believed I was pregnant. I want to carry on.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority had refused Ms Blood permission to use her husband's sperm following his death from bacterial meningitis last year because she had not obtained his written permission to do so. The High Court agreed with this position.
Ms Blood said that if she won her case on appeal in January it would be "up to God whether I can have Stephen's baby". She knew her husband would have wanted her to stand up for herself, she said.