Should You Store Sperm Before a Vasectomy?

If you have been asking yourself whether having a vasectomy is right for you, consider the following questions:

– Are you tired of those postpartum weeks of sleepless nights?
– Are you delighted with the brood you bore?
– Do you find condoms “so high school”?
– Is fatherhood a lifestyle choice that doesn’t suit you?
– Do you feel that you being childless might be better for the world, or the environment?
– Are you of the opinion that there is nothing selfish about having children that you do not want?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then a vasectomy may be just right for you.

It’s Complicated

The simple truth is that there is no better contraceptive than a vasectomy. It also demands no day-to-day compliance from its owner to work. But it’s also a permanent, ’til-the-end-of-your-time way to end baby making, which can be intimidating. So why not bank some sperm before you have the deed done? From my experience with vasectomy patients, I have found that the decision to bank sperm is about as complex as the decision to have a vasectomy. The considerations that surface among men contemplating storing their seed seem to fall into two categories: “lifestyle” and “technical.”

Lifestyle Considerations

• If there’s an inkling that you might want (more) kids
• You’ve always wanted more kids, but now’s not the time
• If there’s a feeling that you might want kids in a different relationship
• If you disagree with your partner regarding having (more) kids
• If your relationship is on the rocks
• If you just can’t handle the “permanence” of a vasectomy
• If you happen to believe that the world could end up being a better place for your kids than it was for you

Technical Considerations

• You’re uncomfortable making love to a cup
• You’re unsure whether or not you want a child conceived in a fertility laboratory with assisted reproduction (which is needed with banked sperm to conceive)
• The reliability of banked sperm to produce a pregnancy after thawing is not clear to you
• You’re not sure you can afford the substantial annual fee to keep your guys frozen
• You’re unsure whether you want to manage a precious bank account that, unlike money, is not automatically handed down to next-of-kin when you pass away
• You’re uncomfortable with storing your gametes along with thousands of other men and knowing for sure that human error won’t rear its ugly head and you get the wrong ones back
• You’re not entirely clear what happens when sperm banks go out of business

I always tell men that a vasectomy should be considered to be irreversible. But, I also tell them that I reverse them for a living, and that I regularly perform sperm retrievals that leave the vasectomy intact and working fine. These alternatives are comforting to those who simply can’t or won’t fathom freezing their fellows.