Initiative: IDF soldiers to freeze sperm for future procreation
Many soldiers opt to sign living will allowing family to use their frozen sperm should the worst happen. 'State has no right to prevent its citizens from procreating' says attorney leading initiative
Some soldiers, who currently do not have significant others, have their parents down as executors of their will, allowing them to choose if the sperm is to be used to impregnate a surrogate.
Attorney Irit Rosenblum, head of the New Family Organization, is behind this initiative.
"During and after the war, I started getting calls from soldiers, mostly reserve soldiers, expressing their wish to sign a living biological will.
"They said that after seeing what was going on they were afraid they won't be coming back, and they want to have children," said Rosenblum.
"The war, and especially its aftermath, made a lot of people very anxious," she added.
War's aftermath
"We were sitting there, in the tank, and one of my friends found out he just lost his brother," said A, a 31-year-old reservist in the Armor Corps.
"That made me realize I might not make it back. I heard about the biological will, talked it over with my wife and she urged me to do it," he added.
A contacted Rosenblum and signed a biological will stipulating his sperm is to be kept frozen for five years, allowing his wife to use it is she sees fit.
"It costs NIS 2,000 (about $470) for the initial procedure and another NIS 700 ($165) a year to preserve the sperm," said A. "We have no idea what's going to happen and I want to make sure I can have children."
Rosenblum has recently started a new initiative, calling for the forming of a special sperm bank for IDF soldiers.
Every man joining the IDF would be able to donate sperm, which would be kept until the donor is 45.
Should the donor be harmed, the use of the sperm would be at his spouse or parents discretion.
"If the State jeopardizes the lives of its citizens it has no right to prevent them from preserving their right to procreate," said Rosenblum.
