A Taiwanese woman’s controversial plan to bear the child of her dead fiance by using his conserved sperm has been thwarted when the sperm was destroyed on orders of his family. “We have made the decision to destroy although with much regret,” said a sister of Sun Chi-hsiang Thursday, an army captain who was killed in September in an accident at his military base.The sister, who declined to give her name, did not give reasons but local media reported that Sun’s family had been at odds with his fiancee Lee Hsing-yu.Lee attracted public sympathy for her determination to bear a child of her dead lover through artificial insemination, in defiance of a law.Critics opposed her plan, citing legal and ethical considerations, and her request was turned down by Defence Minister Lee Jye -- who referred to a law which bans the harvesting of sperm of the deceased.A military hospital later extracted sperm from Sun some 68 hours after he died with the consent of Premier Frank Hsieh, following emotional pleas from the fiancee.But health authorities refused to grant her special permission to bear Sun’s child.
