Securing Posterity: The Right to Postmortem Grandparenthood and the Problem for Law

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to begin conceptualizing the interests and motivations of bereaved parents, or would-be grandparents, who wish to produce a grandchild following the death of an adult son. It argues that two characteristics of this reproductive practice— the experience of loss that precedes it and the familial relationship that lies between its consumers (the would-be grandparents) and its subjects (the deceased sons)—provide the social context in which parents’ personal motivations to pursue postmortem grandparenthood can be understood.