Israel cuts red tape on sperm retrieval from sons killed in war: Report

Israel is allowing parents to circumvent usual legal procedures to have the sperm of their fallen soldier sons, or civilian sons killed during the war with Hamas to be retrieved before burial to increase its chances of viability when it is later unfrozen and used to fertilize an egg, media reports have said.

Posthumous sperm retrieval (PSR) during normal times can be done at the request of a widow without any need for legal bureaucracy, but parents who want their dead son’s sperm to be retrieved and preserved must obtain an order from a family court.

The Israeli Health Ministry has exempted this requirement, at least temporarily, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.

Sperm has been retrieved from 33 men in the last month, four of them civilians and the rest soldiers, a report in the Ha'aretz newspaper said. (PTI)