Sperm donation

From ArticleWorld

Sperm donation is a medical practice that involves a male, usually between the age of 18-25 years, who agrees, for a fee, to provide one or more specimens of his semen for the purposes of inseminating a woman or for its use in an in-vitro fertilization procedure. This is generally done by participating in a sperm donation program.

Procedure

A man who wishes to become a part of a sperm donation program must first undergo a series of medical tests and an evaluation of his family’s medical and genetic history. He must also provide satisfactory semen for a subsequent fertilization procedure. If he is found qualified, he generally provides, for the purposes of selection by potential recipients, basic information about his health, his race, his physical characteristics and, sometimes, his interests and hobbies. The donor then agrees to provide specimens (via masturbation) of his semen for a period of time and for an agreed-upon fee.

Legal and ethical issues

Each country has its own laws regarding the practice of sperm donation. At one point, for example, both Holland and Sweden placed a ban on anonymity in sperm donation. The result was, unfortunately, a significant drop in the availability of donated sperm.

Some individuals express concern over the possibility that a single donor will provide semen enough for a great many offspring and believe that genetic issues could later arise. Many sperm donation programs, however, attempt to limit the number of offspring from any given donor and argue that donated semen is generally shipped to all parts of the country so that the odds of two children from the same donor later growing up and mating is exceedingly small.

Other legal and ethical issues surround whether or not either party, the donor or the child resulting from his donated sperm, has the legal, medical or moral right to know anything at all about one or the other. If such a right or rights exist, then the issue becomes, how much and what particular information, including identity, should be passed along. Again, from a legal perspective, every country has different laws around this issue.