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An additional argument can be made for permitting semen to be
obtained from a paraplegic. This is because the Divrei Malkiel (Vol.
V, 157), who prohibits the emission of sperm for testing, bases this
on explaining that the gemara in Yevamos (76a) that allows the ex-
traction of semen from a man with a hole (slit) in his male organ for
the purpose of checking whether or not the hole had already closed,
did so because as long as it has not been shown to have closed he is
presumed to be “unable of siring children,” to whom the prohibition
of emitting semen for naught does not fully apply. However [con-
cludes the Divrei Malkiel], a married man who does not yet have
children will be forbidden to emit semen for testing [even after it has
been established that the problem does not lie with the wife], since
his inability to sire a child may only be temporary and his sperm is
capable of impregnating her.5

This does not apply to a paraplegic for it is clear that he cannot have
an erection and sire children in a natural way. Even though his sperm
may be able to fertilize through artificial insemination, the same is
true of a man with a hole in his male organ who can also sire children
by artificial insemination or in a bathtub [by accidental insemination]
(Chagigah 14a6) yet since he is nevertheless unable to impregnate in a
natural way, may not be subject to the prohibition of emitting semen
for naught. The same applies to the paraplegic.

It should be added further that the first method of obtaining semen
– through an electrical stimulus – seems to be similar to the method
mentioned by the gemara (Yevamos 76a) of placing hot barley bread
on the anus. The poskim write that obtaining semen in this way is
considered bringing about an emission indirectly [though we are not
proficient in its employment, as explained in Pischei Teshuvah (Even
Ha’ezer, 24]. It is similarly possible that electrical stimulation is also
considered indirect. All the more so is the second method – through

5. His comments are discussed earlier, in siman 251.
6. The topic of bathtub impregnation is discussed earlier in siman 250.

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