The Verkhovna Rada has adopted a new procedure that will allow men and women, even non-military personnel, to become parents after death. Under the innovation, partners of deceased spouses will be able to use their frozen reproductive cells to have a child who will be recognized as their own with the full range of rights provided for by law.
The deputies adopted two documents for this: one main one as a whole and another auxiliary one in the first reading. To start this procedure, the approval of both documents and the signature of the president are required. But the problem of the possible destruction of the sperm of the fallen soldiers has already been resolved by the adoption of the main document as a whole.
This step was taken after a high-profile scandal in late January, when it became known that the Council had blocked the possibility of posthumous paternity and even provided for the forced disposal of frozen biomaterial of military personnel after their death.
These new changes were announced by Mykhailo Radutsky, the head of the parliamentary committee on national health, who was the author of the scandalous amendments to the previous version of the law and promised to rectify the situation.
According to Radutsky's speech, the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 10448 as a whole, which contains key innovations.
In the previous version of the law, after the death of a serviceman, the storage of reproductive cells ceased and they had to be disposed of. However, in the new version, in the event of the death of a serviceman (or servicewoman) or his/her declaration of death, reproductive cells are stored at the expense of the state for three years.
After this period, they can also remain preserved, but at the expense of the person who was indicated by the deceased as the administrator of his biomaterial during his lifetime.
The revolutionary nature of this legislative act lies in the fact that for the first time in Ukraine, it provides for the possibility for a citizen to dispose of his reproductive cells in the event of his death, being declared dead by a court, or being missing.
This opportunity applies to any citizen, not just a military serviceman.
In the case of the birth of a child in accordance with a citizen's living will and through reproductive technologies, the deceased "shall be recognized as the father or mother of the child born in such a manner.".
Within three months of the law's enactment, the government must adopt additional regulations to address all legal subtleties.
At the same time, the law recognizes as valid wills and other notarized expressions of will of citizens regarding their biomaterial, which were concluded before the adoption of this law.
Lawyer Olena Babych highly praised the new document, whose post on social networks started the entire scandal regarding the previous law.
“I can't believe my eyes! This law plans to implement what the reproductive community and I have been talking about and trying to do for many years — to legally regulate the use of reproductive cells after the death of a person, and not just military personnel,” she wrote on Facebook.
In addition, in the first reading, the Rada adopted another bill No. 10450 on amendments to the Civil Code.
Radutsky explained that this law is needed to “recognize paternity and extend benefits to such children.”.
"We add that in the event of death, the defender can dispose of reproductive cells by writing an appropriate order, as well as apply assisted reproductive technologies. This individual is recognized as the father or mother of a child born in this way," the deputy explains.
At the end of January, it became known that an amendment was made to the November law on the right to free storage of military personnel's reproductive cells, according to which, in the event of the death of military personnel, their biomaterial was to be disposed of.
This happened at a time when Ukrainian legislation had no solution at all to the issue of posthumous paternity.
In fact, there was no mechanism for citizens, even with a will, to dispose of their biological material — sperm, eggs, or embryos — thus allowing their partners to have children in the event of the death of one of them.
Resolving this issue has become especially urgent in the context of the war with Russia, when thousands of men and women risk their lives and health at the front every day.
When the scandal surrounding the previous version of the law gained momentum, many deputies claimed that the amendment on the disposal of biomaterial was introduced at the last stage, and this decision was not approved by the relevant committee.
Even the author of the scandalous amendment, Radutsky, rejected it.
He stated that the idea of disposing of military biomaterial is “wrong and unfair to our heroes and the memory of them,” and promised to correct the situation before the previous version of the law comes into force.
