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A ‘biological will’ is an innovative legal document for a man that wants to give instructions on what should happen with his semen in the event of his death. He might have had a sample of his sperm frozen, preserved and deposited in advance, or he might request that it should be taken from him after his death, made possible with new biotechnology. Thus, a man provides himself with a donation for his future self. It is an ‘insurance’ for the future – a man might lose his fertility through injury or even his life, but his right to establish a family lives on.
In Israel, such precautions are especially important and valid as the country is regularly confronted with the threat of war. Israeli men face a very real danger to be injured or lose their lives during their military service. Furthermore, the idea to preserve future life and a man’s ability to procreate is based on two fundamental values of Israeli society: The sanctity of family and the importance given to having children on the one hand, and the value of remembering the deceased and memories living on in a new generation on the other.
What does New Family do?
New Family advances the idea of a biological will by two means: The organization will draw up a biological will for anybody interested in it and is actively promoting change in legislation.
Any man interested in having a biological will and preserving his sperm for the future, is able to have a will written by one of New Family’s expert lawyers. It will be certified by two witnesses and a copy of the testament will stay with New Family, while another copy is given to the owner or a close relative.
A sperm bank for soldiers
As an important legal initiative, Adv. Irit Rosenblum, Director of New Family, has proposed to establish a state-funded sperm bank in Israel in which every interested soldier may deposit a sample of his sperm.
Israeli men are drafted at age 18 and have to serve 3 years in the army. While the state does takes responsibility if a soldier loses his ability to work, no such responsibility is taken for the loss of fertility. The development of artificial insemination created a revolution in reproductive medicine. Today, a man does have the possibility to freeze his sperm and keep it for future use. A sperm bank for soldiers would ensure the men’s right to establish a family and have biological children.
After four years of preparation, the war in Lebanon in 2006 propelled New Family’s sperm bank initiative for IDF soldiers into action. Dozens of soldiers and their wives turned to the organization and requested help with preserving their sperm and drawing up the appropriate legal documents. The knowledge that at least the future family is not endangered, can be a small consolation in the distress caused by war and military duty. Even soldiers who do not have a steady partner thus ensure their ability to have children one day.
New Family’s groundwork since 2001 included a comprehensive inquiry and report on the legal, social, psychological and ethical implications of the practice and the consultation of leading authorities on the issue, such as reproductive physicians, IDF representatives, experts on ethics and politicians.
The significance of the initiative is great. It opens the possibility for new life in families where a son has been lost or injured in service. It provides answers to dilemmas deliberated in Israel and worldwide on the use of biotechnology in reproduction. The initiative serves to protect the basic rights and natural wishes of every human being to have biological children. Critics may point out that the wishes of the future baby are not considered when preserving sperm or creating life after the father’s death, but the same is true for all of us – we all were born just because our parents wished it. An infant created through artificial insemination is no different than a baby conceived naturally that is born after the father’s death and will have no recollection of him. Therefore, it is essential that a man specifies in his biological will exactly what should happen with his sperm, who should be able to use it and under what circumstances.
The sperm bank that New Family proposes would service a soldier both during his lifetime if his fertility was impaired and in the event of death according to the instructions set in his will.
We hope that this initiative, which would enable every soldier to freeze his sperm, will be adopted quickly by the legislative authorities and be implemented at the earliest possible moment.
Legal Precedent
New Family set an international precedent by securing the right of parents of a deceased 20-year old IDF soldier to use his sperm to bring a child into the world. This is the only case in the world in which a court permitted a woman to be inseminated by a known sperm donor who was not her partner during his life.
Until this ruling, only the spouses of men who specifically requested so could be impregnated with the sperm of the deceased.
The verdict, written on January 15 by a Tel Aviv family court judge, concluded a case argued since 2004. The potential mother, a single woman in her 30s, petitioned the court together with the parents of the soldier, killed in action in 2002.
The verdict circumvents an older ruling in which the parents of the deceased were declared to have no standing rights in cases like these. It is of double significance, as it not only heeded the wishes of a deceased as expressed during his lifetime, but also allowed a single mother – usually considered a poor candidate for fertility treatments in Israel where heterosexual couples are preferred – to become pregnant through artificial insemination. |
