The parents of an Israeli soldier who died in combat want to use his semen to become grandparents.
Israeli law does not allow parents to use the sperm of their dead children, and a couple is lobbying to change that.
The Israeli soldier was killed during a raid in the Palestinian West Bank village of Yabad in 2020. His father retrieved his sperm after his death.
—Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) May 12, 2020
Ben Yigal told the Jerusalem Post that his son really wanted to be a father. He wrote about it. He talked about it.
He said that when his son was killed, he was stopped from being a parent, but he doesn't want to be a grandparent.
The state is preventing Yigal and his wife from using their dead son's sperm in order to have a surrogate mother.
He told the paper that they would be the first to do it.
He will have everything. The child will gain. He will get a warm family who will love him.
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow grieving parents to use their dead children's sperm. In 2021, it was voted down.
Surviving female partners of soldiers have been offered the chance for posthumous sperm retrieval.
The Chairman of Israel's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, who supports the bill, said that it is one of the most complicated and sensitive issues he has ever worked on.
Should the bill pass, it would be groundbreaking, and other countries may follow suit, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Jerusalem Post reports that the bill is being supported by a nonprofit organization for families of fallen soldiers, and that they are supporting several families in the same position as the Yigals.
It is on us to pick up the pieces and build a new path after the loss of a son, says Irit Oren Gunders, the head of Or.