A PRISONER'S RIGHT TO PROCREATE

Professor John Rasko is all upset at the New South Wales government's intention to force prisoners to pay for sperm storage:

Writing in the latest Medical Journal of Australia, Prof Rasko, director of the Sydney Cancer Centre at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, said free storage was a mandatory service that prisoners should not be denied.

"Without this option, male cancer survivors might be unable to father their own offspring," he wrote.

"Discriminating against certain prisoners by demanding payment for otherwise free services could be seen as cruel and unusual punishment."

He said the bill would breach the principle of equal health care for prisoners and implied an intention to rid society of "criminal seed".

It would then seem appropriate for governments to pay for the collection and storage of the sperm of prisoners who will never be released. Everyone would, of course, be happy with Ivan Milat and Martin Bryant fathering children.