AUSTIN, Texas, March 21 (UPI) -- A Texas baby born two years after his father died in Iraq is one of at least three children conceived using the sperm of dead military personnel.
"We wanted children. This is one of the potential children we would have had. So what's wrong with having a baby I would have had, even though he's not here?" Kathleen Smith of Austin, Texas, said to CNN of her 8-month-old, Benton.
Smith's and her husband, Brian Smith, were trying to conceive a child when he left for Iraq in January 2004. He left sperm behind so she could continue trying while he was overseas. That July he was killed by a sniper.
She decided that she still wanted her husband's child and underwent in vitro fertilization three times before becoming pregnant, she told CNN.
The Veterans Administration told CNN that at least three children have been born to women using the sperm of deceased military personnel. The agency said the decision whether to grant health benefits to the children is decided on a case-by-case basis and Smith said she doesn't know whether her child will be covered.
