Artificial Insemination, Incapacity, Divorce Issues

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1948, Page 5

Artificial Insemination, Incapacity, Divorce Issues

LONDON, Tue. (11 a.m.). —A 31-year-old woman was granted a decree of nullity in the Divorce Court today on the grounds of her husband’s incapacity to consummate the marriage, in spite of the fact that she had had a child by him by artificial insemination. , „ " The case is believed to be the first of its kind to come before the English courts.

The judge said it would be better for the child if he granted the decree, rather than allow the child to be brought up by “an embittered mother, tied to marriage that has never been a real marriage, and which, only through the unnatural aid of science, has produced the fruit of marriage.” The 37-year-old husband did not contest the allegation of incapacity, but contended that his wife had approbated the marriage, that to grant a decree of nullity would make the child (a boy) illegitimate, and thus it would be against the public interest. The judge said: “In my view this particular marriage has broken down hopelessly. “The wife can never endure to go back to her husband.” It was most regrettable, the judge added, that the child should be made illegitimate, but sons were not now judged by the errors of their parents. The judge could not agree that public policy made it his duty to find that the wife had approbated the marriage.