A new pilot program by the Pentagon will pay to have troop’s sperm and eggs frozen so they’d still be able to have children if they are hurt on the battlefield. New York Times reported this unusual initiative by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, made in order to make military service more appealing and family friendly.
The purpose is to ensure that if members of the Troops sustain reproductive injuries on the battlefield (as have hundreds of veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan), they would still have the possibility to have children. The program is also meant as an incentive for women in their 20’s and 30’s to stay in the military instead of having children at a young age. By freezing their eggs, they will have the flexibility to remain deployed overseas or otherwise pursue their careers and put off having children.
However, the incentive raises legal and ethical questions. Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, gives a few examples:
“What happens if you die — can your wife use it? And what if your mother wants grandchildren and your wife doesn’t, does that mean the sperm can be used with a surrogate? If you’re cognitively disabled, can it be used? And what happens if the company housing your sperm or eggs goes bankrupt?”
Also to be taken into consideration, is the fact that the practice of freezing eggs has become widespread only in the past five years. Freezing of eggs is not always successful and can cause complications. If your eggs don’t work, and you don’t find out until you’re 39, what happens then?
While the details of the legal and ethical questions are being worked out, the program, which applies only to active-duty service members, will be re-evaluated in two years, and could ultimately be made permanent. The initiative is part of a series of measures by Carter to create what he calls “the force of the future.” He is worried that the military has not adapted enough to compete with top companies for millennials, who put a greater emphasis on work-life balance than did previous generations.
Featured picture of Sgt. Jason Klipfel and Spc. Ashley Klipfel. Photographed by U.S federal government employee, as displayed on Flickr, available under public domain. The featured couple has no relation to the article.
