Sperm Donors

A man who gives or sells his sperms for sperm donation is called a sperm donor. Sperm donation is a process in which donated sperm of a man are used for making a woman pregnant. The people who use sperm donation for having a baby include infertile men, men with genetic diseases, and lesbian couples that want to have a baby.

The act of sperm donations is done via sperm banks that provide sperm donors with facilities to store donated sperm. The process in which donated sperm extracted from semen are used for impregnating a woman is called “artificial insemination.” Since 1965 when the first sperm banks were established in the United States and Japan, there have been many discussions regarding medical, ethical, and legal issues of sperm donation.

Sperm banks are the institutes in which sperm donation is done via specific regulations. Selective breeding is possible in a sperm bank, which means that the parents can specify the characteristics of the baby they like to have. The storing of sperm in a sperm bank requires special conditions, but the time sperm can be kept is not limited.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for making guidelines for sperm donation, sperm donors, and sperm banks. There are also some specific regulations in individual states. In other parts of the world, various organizations deal with sperm donation regulations. The FDA estimates that there are more than 500 centers with reproductive tissue establishments in the United States that are subject to regulations of collection, processing, storage, and distribution of human gametes or embryos.

The sperm donors can be known or anonymous to the individuals receiving the sperm. The donated sperm and sperm donors undergo medical tests to ensure the status of their health. In another process, called posthumous sperm retrieval (PSR), sperm are extracted from semen of a man who has suffered brain death. These sperm can be used for artificial insemination for the purpose of sperm donation or other purposes.

The relationship of a sperm donor and the child born from the donated sperm has been discussed a great deal; the biologic and genetic relationship between the child and the sperm donor is certainly a challenge. Some people have suggested the term sperm donor be replaced by the terms biological father or genetic father.

Sperm donors can earn money with the donation of their sperm and financial matters are one of the most common reasons for sperm donation. There is an effort in all countries that have sperm banks to limit the number of sperm donations by one person, and the sperm banks try to decrease the number of offspring from one man. Besides sperm donation via official sperm banks, there are private sperm donations by individuals via the Internet. This unofficial sperm donation has caused many problems regarding controlling and monitoring sperm donations, and some sperm donors have donated sperm privately via [Page 802]the Internet besides having had sperm donations in different sperm banks.

In the official process of sperm donation in a sperm bank, the sperm donors enter into a contract for selling his sperm. In most cases to qualify as a sperm donor, one must be an age in the range determined by sperm donation authorities, have an acceptable medical history, and have high-quality semen samples. Donors are evaluated via laboratory screening, medical history, and physical examinations. In different countries, official organizations monitor the health of the sperm donors. In the United States, Human Cell and Tissue or Cell and Tissue Bank Product (HCT/Ps), which is established by the FDA, is used for the identification of the health status of sperm and sperm donors.

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