Ethical Quandaries with Cryogenic Gamete Usage
As The Guardian recently reported, a baby has been born from sperm collected 26 years ago, raising serious ethical questions about long-term gamete storage and its many societal implications.1 In 1996, 21-year-old Peter Hickles was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In preparation for treatment, which carried the risk of permanent infertility, Hickles was advised to freeze some of his sperm, in case he later wanted to have children. His treatment was successful, but he never felt the time for having children was right, so his sperm remained in storage.
Two and a half decades later, Hickles, now 47, and his fiancée wanted to try to have a child. Though he had initially been told his frozen sperm...
is the Event & Executive Services Manager at The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. He holds a BA in psychology from Nyack College and MAs in church history and theological studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Get Salvo in your inbox! This article originally appeared in Salvo, Issue #64, Spring 2023 Copyright © 2024 Salvo | www.salvomag.com https://salvomag.com/article/salvo64/cold-storage
