Newsweek

Getting a Fecund Chance

More Israeli men are freezing their sperm before going off to war, and a growing number of parents are extracting semen from their loved ones after their deaths.
Asher and Irit with their son, Omri, who died in a car crash when he was 25, four years ago. The parents are now looking for a surrogate to carry his child.
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Everywhere I look inside Irit and Asher Shahar’s house, I see their dead son: His face greets me from the framed photos on the wall, a bronze statue by the kitchen and on a medallion around Asher’s neck.

Four years ago, his parents learned of his death when a representative from the Israeli military knocked on their door in Kfar Saba, a town in central Israel. He came inside, put his hand on Asher’s shoulder and told the Shahars and their two daughters what had happened: Omri, an officer in the Israeli navy, had died in a car crash. He

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