Israeli soldier's parents launched a campaign earlier this year to get permission to use his sperm cells for conception after he was murdered while on duty.
In 2020, an IDF operation in the West Bank hamlet of Yabad claimed the life of Israeli soldier Amit Ben Yigal, age 21. His father took his sperm soon after he passed away.
The Jerusalem Post quoted his father, Ben Yigal, saying that his son "truly wanted to be a parent."
"He [the son] wrote about it. He spoke about it," Yigal said in the Jerusalem Post report.
He told the publication that after the death of his son, he was "stopped from being a parent." However, he does not want to be "stopped from being a grandparent."
According to Business Insider, Yigal claimed to have 182 women's contact information who were ready to serve as surrogate mothers. Still, he and his wife cannot use their dead son's sperm due to state restrictions.
The same Business Insider report mentioned that some people are asking to modify Israeli law to allow parents to utilize the sperm of their deceased children.
Posthumous Sperm Retrieval: Here's How It Works
A procedure known as postmortem sperm retrieval (PSR) allows for the extraction of sperm from a dying or even deceased person. According to Health.com, the first known PSR case was recorded in 1980, and the first child born due to a PSR conception occurred in 1999.
A research published in the October 2019 edition of Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine pointed out that not all hospitals and fertility clinics provide the treatment. Those that do often have different policies about who can request it, when it can be done, and how.
In general, sperm can be removed from a patient who is brain dead or shortly after being pronounced dead. According to a report from Medicinski Glasnik published in February 2021, the suggested time limit is typically 24 to 36 hours following death.
A surgeon or urologist may perform a testicular biopsy, an epididymal aspiration (sperm extraction with a needle through the skin), or a total testicular ectomy to retrieve.
The sperm can be collected, frozen, and kept the same way as reproductive clinics freeze the semen of living donors. Bloomberg added that a man's sperm cells can be harvested and stored for up to 72 hours after a man passes away. Sperm extraction is simple and reasonably priced, costing $1000 for the process and an additional $100 each year for storage.
When the spouse of the dead is ready to become pregnant, medical professionals may try in-vitro fertilization (IVF) on one of their eggs (IVF). However, experts said that a woman cannot become pregnant through intrauterine insemination. The said insemination involves inserting sperm into the uterus using a catheter if the sperm was not ejaculated as semen.
Few studies have been conducted on the health of infants born utilizing posthumously obtained sperm or the success rate of these pregnancies.
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Is Using Sperm From a Dead Man or Donor Ethical?
The wife or parents of a person who passed away unexpectedly in an accident before having the chance to have children may request PMSR, as may terminally sick men who desire to save sperm for use after death.
Government policies and judicial rulings favor allowing access to the surgery for parents of deceased persons. The supposition was that everyone's primary objective is to have children. However, problems arose.
There are other ethical issues that the experts are seeking to create a protocol for these circumstances must address. Has the dead granted permission, for instance, for his sperm to be used for procreation after his death? Could someone make a request to receive his sperm? Is the child's introduction to the world without a father in the child's best interests?
The man's wishes need to be clear, and everyone seems to agree. Arthur Caplan,head of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, said in a Live Science report (via Scientific American): "The core principle is not to reproduce anyone without their permission."
Some institutions closely adhere to this rule and won't remove sperm from the deceased without their written, informed consent. However, many of the requests are made in instances when a male passed away suddenly without ever expressing specific authorization.
Suppose there is proof that sperm retrieval may have been the deceased person's wish. In that case, several institutions may grant the request despite the lack of written authorization. For instance, it may suggest permission if a couple had attempted to conceive or discussed it with friends and family.
The motivation of the party making the request is another factor that needs to be considered in PMSR requests. According to experts, the bereaved family members might be unable to make sensible judgments in the given situation. Because of this, the specialists advise a mandated waiting period of a few months to a year before using the sperm retrieval for pregnancy.
Caplan also pointed out that rejecting a request for PMSR has ethical issues. He cited the argument that outsiders shouldn't be allowed to decide who may reproduce as one example of how it might restrict family aspirations to carry on their heritage.
Even with the deceased's written authorization, PMSR is banned in France, Germany, Sweden, and other nations. In the United Kingdom, it is possible with written approval. Following the laws governing organ donation, specific requests for sperm retrieval have been granted in the United States.
However, the same Scientific American article, citing experts, said the ultimate objective is to set regulations that respect the deceased's intentions and are in the best interests of the family and the unborn child, regardless of the specifics of any procedure.
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