LOS
ANGELES, March 27 (AFP) - A California woman has given birth to
a baby girl after being impregnated with sperm taken from her
dead husband and frozen for three years.
Gaby
Vernoff delivered a "healthy baby girl" March 17, according to
Cappy Rothman, a Los Angeles urologist who retrieved sperm from
Bruce Vernoff about 30 hours after he died in 1995 from an allergic
reaction.
"I
think it will give more hope and more happiness to a family in
the most grievous time of its life," Rothman said.
"Apparently
just what the family wanted."
The child weighed in at approximately 3.8 kilos (eight pounds,
six ounces).
Rothman,
61, spoke by telephone to AFP from Panama City, Panama, where
he and another 1,000 doctors were attending a Latin American medical
conference on fertility and sterility.
"It's
very easy to do technically," Rothman said of the sperm removal.
"This is a very rare occurrence. It's unusual," he added.
The
sperm was frozen for three years. Last July, sperm was placed
directly into the uterus of Gaby Vernoff.
The sperm stayed alive partly because the corpse was in a cold
morgue, the doctor said.
Details
of the birth, beyond its confirmation, have been sketchy. The
mother, who is in her 20s, lives in suburban Los Angeles and was
unavailable for interviews Friday.
"The
family is in seclusion celebrating the event that has fulfilled
the dreams and wishes of both the father and the mother. They
are looking forward to sharing this miracle with the world, after
they have enjoyed this very private moment," family spokesman
Keith Lewis told AFP.
Rothman,
medical director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and director
of the California Cryobank in Los Angeles, said Vernoff hoped
that she could keep alive the memory of her husband, who died
in his early 30s.
"From
that hope came a little baby girl."
Regarding
ethical debates over this sperm transfer, Rothman said, "I think
anything new promotes ethical debates. I just that think that
it's a lovely thing to do."
