18 February,2011 01:08 PM IST | | Agencies
A number of British soldiers posted in war-torn Afghanistan are said to be freezing their sperm in case they are killed or maimed, a media report said.
The British Army has paid a private firm to store sperm samples as an 'insurance policy'; wives and girlfriends would use the semen to become pregnant if their loved ones are killed or can no longer father children, The Sun reported.
In fact, the exercise follows after the Ministry of Defence issued a memo advising that private sperm freezing and storage for a year could cost as much as 1,000 pounds. "The MoD provides all military personnel with pre- deployment advice on fertility preservation," a MoD spokesman was quoted by the British tabloid as saying.
One 28-year-old Army wife said: "This practice is more common than you think. Army wives and girlfriends already have to deal with their partners maybe not coming home. An added torment is that their dreams of a child are also shattered. "If my husband dies, he's given me permission to use his sperm to have our baby. It's an insurance policy, should the worst happen."
Fears over childlessness grew after an increase in groin injuries and damage to reproductive organs from IED bombs, the report said.
