A child after death? Families cling to hope, and frozen sperm

Standing alone outside court room number 49, Heena Pawar watches the electronic counter intently. Her case is listed at number 12, and the court has just begun to rustle with activity.

She settles in for another long wait. For a year now, she has stood vigil at the Delhi high court, hoping to be heard.
Pawar knows she is testing the limits of legal jurisprudence in India. Her plea? To gain access to her dead brother’s frozen sperm and use assisted reproductive technology (ART) to have a baby through a surrogate. The process, known as posthumous reproduction, involves using a deceased person’s gametes or embryos to conceive through fertility treatment.

After a man dies, his sperm lives for up to 72 hours, according to experts.