Widow re-registers children conceived with dead husband’s sperm

A WIDOW who fought for the right to have children using her dead husband’s sperm yesterday re-registered her children’s births.

Earlier this year Diane Blood won her long legal battle to have her late partner legally recognised as their father. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Act 2003 came into force yesterday. This gives mothers like Mrs Blood, whose children were conceived after their fathers' deaths, a six-month window in which to re-register their children's births if they now wish to name the deceased parent on the relevant birth certificate.

Until now the child's parental details had to be left blank, as if they were unknown. Yesterday Mrs Blood, 37, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, re-registered her two sons - Liam Stephen Blood, four, and 16-month-old Joel Michael Blood at Sheffield Register Office. She said: "It's a great day. I'm really pleased we've achieved what we've been working towards. It obviously means a lot to us.