preview

Frozen Sperm And Frozen Eggs

Decent Essays

Over the last few years there have been court battles involving frozen embryos, frozen sperm and frozen eggs. One of the most recent cases is Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb’s publicized battle over the frozen embryos that they created together in 2013. The decision was made to create the embryos due to Sofia’s age and Nick’s desire to have children. They realized how sophisticated science had become and decided to use the scientific knowledge to their advantage. When they were ready, they would have children together. However, they went their separate ways and a lengthy court battle still pursues on who should have the frozen embryos. Whether it is frozen embryos, frozen sperm or frozen eggs the ethical and legal battle will continue for decades as to whom should retain ownership and make decisions regarding the frozen material. This frozen material at some point has to be removed from the human body and in the case of frozen sperm, sometimes the sperm is collected post-mortem. Post mortem sperm retrieval (PMSR) is the collection of sperm after a male individual has past away. In 1980, the first successful post mortem collection was performed on a 30-year old man who was brain dead after a motor vehicle accident (Strong 739). For sperm preservation to occur the family must be able to convince medical personnel, particularly the hospital’s ethical committee, that that the donor wanted to have children at some point in his life, as the United States has no laws regarding PMSR.

Get Access