George Kamau killed himself Monday, according to The Associated Press. His widow, Victoria Chege, says that she wants to have his child in order to continue his legacy.
"It was the intent of George Kamau to conceive a child prior to his untimely death," Chege wrote in papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, according to The New York Daily News. "[He] expressed his desire to have children so that his legacy may continue."
Justice Shirley Kornreich gave the court order that Chege needed on Thursday. She can now harvest the sperm, which she then plans to use to inseminate a surrogate mother.
Still, it may all be too late.
Last year, another New Yorker harvested sperm from her husband who had died from an apparent heart attack. The doctor extracted sperm 32 hours after the man died.
The sperm did not impregnate the woman, according to The New York Post.
Previously, judges in other states including Texas and California have granted permission to harvest the sperm of a dead man.
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Response to the most recent case has been mixed. One person who posted a comment on the New York Daily News website said that it was understandable that Chege should want to have Kamau's child, but "creepy, gross and insane" to get pregnant with a dead man's sperm.
Another questioned Kamau's desire to have children.
"If he wanted a family, he wouldn't kill himself," the poster wrote. "Having kids was not part of his plan."