The woman who began the campaign to legalise post-mortem insemination in Portugal has announced that she is pregnant with her late husband’s baby.

Widowed Angela Ferreira recently took to Instagram to share a video compilation of tender moments with her late other half, Hugo, for her 24,500 followers.

She wrote: “Today, I finally share with all of you the much-desired news! It has been years of struggle to get here, the process was long and painful, but we finally made it!

“It is with great joy and a heart full of emotions that I share today that now two hearts beat inside me.

“Thank you all for helping me get here, thank you for the support, constant messages, and affection!

“Without you, it would not have been possible, and that’s why I am so happy to share this moment with you.”

Before Hugo died from cancer in 2019, he left a written request that he wanted Angela to have his child using his cryopreserved semen after his death.

But this was not legal in Portugal at the time, so Angela began a campaign to change the law.

Her story came to the public’s attention after it was aired in the Portuguese documentary series ‘Amor sem fim’ (‘Never-ending Love’).

Angela also launched a petition, which was signed by more than 100,000 people, leading to the issue being discussed in the Portuguese Parliament.

Several bills were proposed, but in April 2021, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed the possibility for a woman to be inseminated with the genetic material of her deceased partner.

Despite the setback, in November that year, a law allowing artificial insemination but not other assisted reproduction techniques came into effect.

But given artificial insemination’s low success rate of around just 10 per cent, Angela vowed to keep fighting.

And in June 2022, she took to Instagram to write: “Today, yes, today we made history! Today, any woman in my situation who wants to can continue her dream!

“Today, once again, I want to thank all of you for supporting me, helping me, and for all the energy and love you transmit to me.

“I want to thank our friends who fought with me from the beginning to make this possible!

“But today, I want to thank my husband in particular, for all the love he has given me, for teaching me that there are no impossibilities, for continuing to give me as much strength as he always has, for simply being himself, Hugo!

“I am grateful from the bottom of my heart.”