The InVitro-fertilized “miracle” child of a slain NYPD officer has finally been declared his biological offspring after a long fight by the mother to obtain benefits related to father’s death.
On Dec. 14, 2014, Detective Wenjian Liu and his partner, Rafael Ramos, were shot and killed as they sat in their patrol car.
Angelina Liu, nicknamed NYPD’s “miracle baby,” was born 2 and 1/2 years after her father’s death from an in-vitro fertilization using Liu’s preserved semen that was extracted from him before he died.
The couple was only married for three months before the tragedy and had planned to have kids.
According to her mother, Pei Xia Lu, her daughter does not receive the same benefits as other children whose parents died in the line of duty due to her conception, and was not considered the father’s child under the law.
Pexi Xia Liu fought for a period of three years to have her daughter recognized a biological child by the state’s inheritance and estate law, which held that Angelina could not be considered Liu’s genetic child because he did not provide written consent for the use of his sperm in the presence of two witnesses.
Now, after a bill passed by the New York State Legislature, Angelina Liu will be legally declared Wenjian Liu’s biological offspring and will receive all due benefits such as Social Security as an heir to her father.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblyman Peter Abbate, passed the legislature earlier this year, but was just recently signed into law by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“The case of Angelina and Wenjian Liu is an extraordinary one for which special considerations are necessary. I am proud to ensure that Angelina Liu receives the benefits she is entitled to, and I hope with the signing of this legislation that Angelina and her family are able to remember Det. Liu in peace,” Hochul said in a statement.