Should a baby conceived by in vitro after father's death be eligible for SSI? [View all]

[Amaril]

Heard this story on NPR this morning. I have mixed feelings about this, so thought I'd bring it here for discussion.

Here's the case in a nutshell -- husband is diagnosed with cancer. He & his wife had planned to have another child, and fearing that chemo would render him sterile, he deposited sperm at a local fertility clinic before beginning treatment. His condition, unfortunately, began to deteriorate in late 2001, so he & his wife began to make plans for her to use the frozen sperm to conceive another child after his death. He passed away in early 2002, she began in vitro shortly thereafter, and gave birth to twins in 2003. After the twins were born, she filed for Social Security Survivors Benefits for them.

Full story at this link:

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/19/148453252/is-a-baby-conceived-after-dads-death-a-survivor?ft=1&f=3

On the one hand, I say yes, they should be entitled to benefits. These are children he planned for and intended to have, so there is no difference between these children and one that his wife may have already been pregnant with at the time of his death.

On the other hand, I can see the Government's argument that "posthumously conceived children fall outside the class of children entitled to survivors benefits because they were brought into being by a surviving parent with the knowledge that the deceased biological parent will not be able to contribute wages for their support."

So, what say you DU? And if you agree that the children in this case should be eligible for survivor's benefits, is there a line that should be drawn? What if they were separated or divorced at the time of his death? The children would still be his biological offspring, but should the absence of his "consent" in any way impact their eligibility?

Cases like this fascinate me from a purely legal perspective -- I guess it's the frustrated lawyer in me (would love to have studied law, but it didn't work out that way for me).