Diane Blood gave birth to two sons using her dead husband's sperm

Mrs Blood, 36, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, wants her dead husband to be recognised as the father of her two children, Liam, four, and Joel, who was born seven months ago.

She said her two children will accompany her when she goes to the High Court on Friday seeking a declaration that the law is incompatible with the Human Rights Act.

Her husband, Stephen, died from bacterial meningitis after falling into a coma in 1995.

Liam and Joel

Under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which controls all test tube births, when the sperm of a man or an embryo created after his death is used, he is not considered the father of the child.

Mrs Blood's lawyers will seek a declaration from the court that this is incompatible with her human rights.

The new child's birth certificate, like that of Liam, must show the father as unknown, which of course couldn't be further from the truth Diane Blood

She said that such a declaration would make constitutional history, forcing a change in the law to allow Liam and Joel to have their deceased father on their birth certificates.

At the moment their paternal details are left blank, as if they were unknown, she said.

She said the ruling would affect about 40 to 50 families plus five to 10 a year where children were conceived posthumously.

When she was pregnant with Joel, she spoke of her sadness that the law failed to recognise her late husband as Liam's father.

"The new child's birth certificate, like that of Liam, must show the father as unknown, which of course couldn't be further from the truth," she said.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority refused to allow her to conceive using his sperm.

This decision was upheld in the High Court, but the Court of Appeal allowed her to have IVF treatment using her dead husband's sperm in a foreign clinic.