In the 13 months since the October 7th attacks in Israel, the demand for postmortem sperm retrieval (PMSR) from the bodies of Israeli soldiers has soared.
43,665 Palestinians have been killed in the bombardment of Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. In the same timeframe, 378 Israeli soldiers have been killed.
The Israel Defense Forces now offers every family the option of PMSR when they learn a male family member has died.
The relatively rare practice of retrieving sperm from the body of a dead man first began in Los Angeles in the 1980. Germany, Sweden and France are among the countries which explicitly ban the procedure while the UK, Canada and Greece allow it subject to certain conditions. The practice is also acceptable in the US.
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But now, in Israel, the demand for PMSR is soaring, particularly among the parents of soldiers who have died in the war on Gaza.
What is driving this sudden demand and why is PMSR popular in Israel?
And what are the ethical implications of conceiving a child using the sperm of a dead man, sometimes years after he has died?
Financial Times journalist, broadcaster and author Jenny Kleeman joins In The News to discuss the surge in demand for PMSR among grieving Israeli parents and the long-term implications for the children conceived as a result of the procedure.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.
