Attitudes Toward Making Babies... With a Deceased Partner's Cryopreserved Gametes

A multiple segment factorial vignette was used with a probability sample of 857 U.S. households to assess the effects of contextual variables on attitudes toward posthumous reproduction using the cryopreserved gametes of a deceased partner. Attitudes were affected in predictable directions by marital status, gender of the deceased individual, disposition of the deceased's parents, and the deceased's wishes. In addition, respondents who identified more closely with their chosen religion tended to perceive posthumous conception as less appropriate and those who had never had children attributed a greater degree of obligation to assist on the part of medical professionals.