There are very few things in life which are certain enough that you can reasonably take them for granted – for that matter, you can’t necessarily take life itself for granted. There are a lot of things which can happen to us. You could be killed in an accident or become seriously injured. You could suffer from a disease or develop an illness where the treatment could result in some serious consequences for your reproductive health. Not to alarm you, but if you want to make sure that you’ll be able to pass down your genes (or even if you just want to keep the option open), then you might want to start thinking about sperm storage for possible artificial insemination in the future.

However, it’s not as if you can just walk into a cryobank, sample cup in hand and have things done as simply as that. It’s a process and if you’d like to make sure that you can continue to have a child even if the unthinkable should happen, it’s something which deserves a lot of thought. There are actually a lot of different arguments to be made in favor of preserving your sperm for possible future use, such as:

A lot of people who think they don’t want children change their minds. For instance, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10% of men who get vasectomies end up changing their minds later on – and the success rate of vasectomy reversals isn’t as high as you might think.

Diseases (like cancer, for instance) can sometimes result in temporary or permanent infertility; and chemotherapy and other forms of cancer treatment can also cause infertility. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be diagnosed with cancer at any point in your life, but of course, there is also no guarantee that you won’t develop cancer – so as long as sperm storage is something which fits into your budget, it’s definitely worth thinking about.

It’s also the case that infertility in men is just more common than it used to be. It’s partially our diet, it’s partially the toxins and other pollutants which we put into our environment. Your sperm count, for instance, may not be as high as you think – which is even more reason to preserve your sperm sooner rather than later.

Choosing to bank your sperm in a cryogenic sperm storage facility is also something that you might want to do simply to give yourself some much needed peace of mind. By saving your sperm for artificial insemination, you keep your reproductive options open; even if you don’t want children right now, you might in the future and this is the most foolproof way to make sure that you can, no matter what happens later on.

While of course adoption is an option and is definitely a wonderful thing, it’s also not everyone’s first choice; many couples would prefer to have a child who is their biological offspring rather than an adopted child.

If you’ve decided to go ahead and use a sperm bank, then you’ll need to start by doing some research to find one which you’re comfortable dealing with. Once you’ve made your decision, the next step is to make an appointment with the facility and go into have some tests done; most tissue banks will test you for STDs before they will agree to store your sperm. You will have to pay for these tests as well, the cost is relatively low but varies from one bank to another.

After this, you’re going to need to schedule several visits to the facility to provide sperm for long term storage. You’ll usually need to provide several different samples (six is a pretty common number); it can often take a number of attempts to successfully conceive, so you’ll have to provide the sperm storage facility with more material than you might have expected. The bank can give you all of the details for preparation and scheduling to ensure optimal quality.

The next (and final) step in the process is to store the sperm cryogenically. Once it has been frozen, your sperm will keep for decades to come; you’ll need to pay an annual fee for storage at the facility and in most cases, designate another person who will have access to your stored sperm in the event that something happens to you (usually a spouse or partner, but you can designate others). All that remains now is to take the sperm out of storage in the event that you decide that you need it – and to enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you’ll always be able to start a family no matter what else might come your way.

About The Author: Robert O. Dewald has written this article.