Single Men`s Attitudes Towards Posthumous Parenthood - Israeli Fertility Association Conference-Ayala 2018, May 7-8, Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel-Aviv

Anat Stein ¹ Mali Rotlevi ¹ Abigeil Deutsch ¹ Sabina Nisimov ¹ Eran Altman ² Yoel Shufaro ³ Haim Pinkas ²

¹Sperm Bank, Helen Schneider Hospital for Women, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Hospital, Petach Tikva, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University
²Sperm Bank ,Infertility and IVF Unit, Helen Schneider Hospital for Women, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Hospital, Petach Tikva, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv
³Infertility and IVF Unit, Helen Schneider Hospital for Women, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Hospital, Petach Tikva, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv

Introduction:
Banking of frozen sperm by single men opens the possibility of procreation long after their death. Requests for posthumous reproduction are growing, raising an ethical debate, especially when written instructions were not left by the patients. The issue of the progenitors` intention to procreate after death is the key to ethically based decision making in these cases.

Aim:
To quantitatively evaluate the attitude of single men towards post mortem usage of their cryopreserved sperm.

Materials & Methods:
Prior to freezing, single men were asked to sign a structured form declaring their consent or refusal for usage of their cryopreserved sperm in case of future mortality.

Results:
Four hundred and fifteen single men signed the form providing instructions for usage of their sperm in case of mortality (age 27.2±11.7 years). One hundred and one were 15-18 years old, and the rest (314) were adults.
In the adult patient group 2 patients (0.6%) authorized their sibling to use their sperm, 21 (6.7%) willed their sperm to their informal female partners, and 11 (3.5%) permitted their parents to use their sperm posthumously. The significant rest 280 (89.3% majority) ordered to destroy their cryopreserved sperm in case of their expiry.
Out of 101 adolescence, four (0.36%) gave consent to for their parents to use their sperm after their death, while the 99.64% (97 cases) ordered to discard their sperm in the case of death.

Conclusion:
In our population, most of the single men who cryopreserved their sperm due to a mortality/morbidity risk object to posthumous reproduction using their sperm. These results indicate that despite the value of parenthood in the Israeli society, most single men cryopreserving sperm are not interested in posthumous reproduction.