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A past law in the Ukraine required that any frozen sperm from a soldier who was killed in action had to be discarded, but a new law is changing that. Now, the Ukrainian parliament has approved a measure which alllows sperm to be used from soldiers who die in action. One of the considerations in changing this measure is the rising death toll among young men in the ongoing war with Russia. Additionally, the fertility rate is low and there are millions of emigrants, as well.

This makes demographics a big consideration and one of the ways to increase the population is to allow frozen sperm to be used, even after a soldier has died. There was a law passed in December 2023 that required the government to begin paying for stored sperm and eggs from soldiers starting in 2025, but that same law also said any stored material from deceased soldiers should be discarded.

The law has now been adjusted to say that sperm samples will be kept for three years after the soldier’s death, and then there’s an option to store these samples longer if the family wants to pay to do so. The health ministry supported this measure, which passed unanimously. Preserving the gene pool of the Ukrainian people is particularly important right now, with so many soldiers being lost to Russian aggression.

Medical lawyer Alla Tsymanovska stated that every person should have the right to continue their family, citing an Israeli law that allows for sperm extraction from deceased soldiers. There will be more adjustments to the Civil Code in Ukraine over time, because the current powers of attorney that are used to allow one partner to use another partner’s genetic material aren’t valid after death.

Additionally, children who are conceived with genetic material from a deceased donor can’t currently be legal heirs of those parents. It’s likely that both of those issues will be corrected in the future, as Ukraine works through the changing of their laws and the best ways to protect their citizens. It’s clear that the post-mortem sperm use is a big step forward, though, for the continuation of families in that country.

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