Interesting Dilemma

Soldiers want to freeze sperm before entering Lebanon

'I want to freeze sperm in case of disaster,' write soldiers to organization New Family, which advocates establishment of sperm bank for soldiers. Director of organization: 'In place where state endangers people's lives, no right to prevent him from creating offspring'

I understand these young men's desire to leave a legacy. However, it appears that it presents a quandary according to Israeli law.

New Family has renewed its efforts to pass a law, drafted by Rosenblum, named the Biological Will Law, that will establish a sperm bank for IDF soldiers, from the first day they are enlisted until they reach age 45, in which they can freeze their sperm. "From this point there are two tracks: one, in which a soldier is, heaven forbid, injured in battle, his partner can be inseminated with his sperm, and a second, in which the soldier's sperm will be transferred by request of his parents to a woman who never knew and never will know the soldier, but who knows his identity, to create an heir for him," explains Rosenblum.

The second track presents a problem. Israel currently has a sperm bank from which women in Israel can become parents, but the identity of the sperm donor remains anonymous. To overcome this problem, the new law would set that a woman who has a child with someone else cannot be inseminated with the sperm of a dead soldier, and that in the case of insemination, the woman's family situation must first be checked by a social worker.

I hope they'll find a way to grant these young soldiers wishes.