Ukraine Introduces Bill To Overturn Ban On Using Dead Soldiers' Sperm

Ukrainian MPs introduced a bill Monday to overturn a ban on using the sperm and eggs of dead soldiers.

A controversial new law due to come into force in March requires sperm and eggs stored by soldiers to be destroyed after their deaths.

But it has stirred an emotive debate in the war-torn country with Ukraine still suffering heavy losses nearly two years after the Russian invasion.

Deputy parliamentary speaker Olena Kondratyuk said lawmakers will introduce "an amendment today that will cancel the postmortem disposal of biomaterials.

"The wave of public indignation will hopefully convince the deputies to vote for it," said Kondratyuk, a member of the Fatherland party.

Lawyer Olena Babych sparked a wide debate last week by revealing the dilemma of a woman whose husband had frozen his sperm before he was killed at the front.

She said she had to break it to her client that she would not be able to use the sperm in a few months.

"How do you explain to a grief-stricken woman... that while her husband was defending the state and died, our lawmakers literally deprived him of the right to be a father after his death?" Babych wrote on Facebook.

A law passed last year allows Ukrainian troops to freeze their sperm or eggs for free in case they are injured in battle.

But it also said they would be destroyed if the fighter dies.

The health ministry later released a statement saying that reproductive clinics "will not dispose of frozen biomaterial of fallen soldiers".

The ban was "a legislative conflict that will be eliminated as soon as possible", it added.

"The health ministry, together with MPs, is already conducting the relevant work," it said.

Kondratyuk suggested the revised law would allow the use of sperm and eggs not only by widows and widowers but also by unmarried partners and even parents of dead soldiers.

Unlike many other European countries, Ukraine allows surrogate motherhood and before the war it was a popular destination for international couples taking advantage of this.

The country has seen its population fall since the invasion due to military losses and emigration, with an estimated 6.5 to 7.5 million people moving abroad.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)