Setting Religious Limits to the Use of Sperm Banks Based on Imam Khomeini’s Jurisprudential Thoughts

The possibility of establishing a sperm bank in Islamic countries, in tandem with non-Muslim countries and specifying limits for its use, is among newly found issues of medical jurisprudence. This paper, developed through descriptive-analytical method and based on library documents, intends to prove that based on Imamiyah jurisprudential criteria, and in some cases, according to the jurisprudential and theoretical fundamentals set forth by Imam Khomeini, there is no legal problem with establishment of sperm bank but its application must be confined to freezing sperm for research purposes and for “insemination with ovum of the wife of the owner of sperm, when both are alive and married”. Therefore, receiving sperm from a male person and freezing it for donation or for any other transfer to non-wife receiver for insemination with her ovum as well as transferring sperm to the wife of the owner of sperm after his death is not permitted because with the death of either of the spouses, the conjugal relationship shall be expired and there only remains the intimacy relationship. Buying sperm and keeping it in the sperm bank for research purposes and medical tests shall be also permissible due to its rational benefits in case its production in non-emergency conditions is not through electrical stimulation, vibrator or masturbation.