Fertility: Unease grows about baby from beyond the grave

Thanksgiving gave one California couple especially happy news: a new grandchild may be on the way. But, as David Usborne explains, this baby is already generating controversy because its mother is no longer alive.

For Howard and Jean Garber, it is more than just the happy news that prospective grandparents have enjoyed the world over. It is also consolation for the loss they suffered twelve months ago: the death of their daughter, Julie.

Their happiness is being marred, however, by the public storm that is suddenly enveloping them. The grandchild they are expecting will be Julie's, carried by a surrogate mother who agreed to be host to eggs that were taken from Julie while she was still living, fertilised and then frozen.

The Garbers, who live in Anaheim, confirmed yesterday that the surrogate mother, named only as Tracy, tested positive at the weekend after being implanted with the final batch of the eggs last Thursday. "The doctors have told us to be cautious, but the results were good," Mr Garber said yesterday.

As they celebrate, the Garbers are facing allegations that the unusual procedure is distasteful at best, if not unethical. Critics are accusing them of arranging for Julie to give birth from beyond the grave in a selfish effort to duplicate the daughter they lost to illness.

The extraordinary story began in 1992, when Julie Garber was diagnosed with a tumour on her brain stem. She survived risky brain surgery. Later, however, she was diagnosed with leukaemia and once again hospitalised. It was during a course of chemotherapy that Julie apparently realised that she may die without having had the chance to bear a child. Before dying, she arranged to have eggs harvested from her, fertilised and put in cold storage.

After Julie's death, it was up to Howard and Jean to seek out a surrogate as well as a specialist who would be willing to oversee the unorthodox procedure. They at first met a brick wall, as specialist after specialist refused, saying the Garbers were attempt to recreate their daughter.

They found Tracy through a newspaper advertisement and agreed to pay her pounds 10,000 to bear their grandchild. Early attempts to plant the eggs failed. This weekend, however, brought news that a child may be on the way.

An unrepentant Howard Garber yesterday hit back at the critics. "Those who oppose this ought to concentrate on the millions of babies that are coming into this world through careless means, who are unloved, uncared for and essentially thrown in the trash bin," he said.

Mr Garber, who anchors a cable television show on ethics and morals, added indignantly: "Our grandchild will be wanted, loved and looked after in an appropriate environment. This baby in every way will be our grandchild."

If the pregnancy proceeds normally and the baby is indeed born, it will be raised by a son of the Garbers, Ron, and his wife.

Mrs Garber says that she is only following the instructions that Julie left her before dying. "Mum, I want you to have a direct role in raising my child. I promised her and I did not make that promise lightly," she said.