Sperm donation

Sperm donation is the provision (or 'donation') by a man (known as a sperm donor) of his sperm (known as donor sperm), principally for it to be used in the artificial insemination of a woman or women who are not his sexual partners for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy. Sperm donation is the provision (or 'donation') by a man (known as a sperm donor) of his sperm (known as donor sperm), principally for it to be used in the artificial insemination of a woman or women who are not his sexual partners for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy. Sperm may be donated publicly and directly to the intended donor, or through a sperm bank or fertility clinic. Sperm donation enables a man to father a child for third-party women, and is therefore, categorized as a form of third party reproduction. Pregnancies are usually achieved by using donor sperm in assisted reproductive technology (ART) techniques which include artificial insemination (either by intracervical insemination (ICI) or intrauterine insemination (IUI) in a clinic, or intravaginal insemination at home). Less commonly, donor sperm may be used in in vitro fertilization (IVF). The primary recipients of donor sperm are single women, lesbian couples and heterosexual couples suffering from male infertility. Donor sperm and 'fertility treatments' using donor sperm may be obtained at a sperm bank or fertility clinic. Sperm banks or clinics may be subject to state or professional regulations, including restrictions on donor anonymity and the number of offspring that may be produced, and there may be other legal protections of the rights and responsibilities of both recipient and donor. Some sperm banks, either by choice or regulation, limit the amount of information available to potential recipients; a desire to obtain more information on donors is one reason why recipients may choose to use a known donor or private donation (i.e. a de-identified donor). However conception is achieved, the nature and course of the pregnancy will be the same as one achieved by sexual intercourse, and the male donor will be the biological father of any child born from his donations. A sperm donor is generally not intended to be the legal or de jure father of a child produced from his sperm. The law may however, make implications in relation to legal fatherhood or the absence of a father. The law may also govern the fertility process through sperm donation in a fertility clinic. It may make provision as to whether a sperm donor may be anonymous or not, and it might give an adult donor conceived offspring the right to trace his or her biological father. Where sperm is donated by natural insemination, i.e. where the donor has sexual intercourse with the recipient woman, the law in every country will always provide that the male is the father of any child produced, even where the sperm is provided by a third party male who is not the woman's usual sexual partner and where the express intention was to secure a pregnancy. Laws regulating sperm donation address issues such as permissible reimbursement or payment to sperm donors, rights and responsibilities of the donor towards his biological offspring, the child's right to know his/her father's identity, and procedural issues. Laws vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In general, laws are more likely to disregard the sperm donor's biological link to the child, so that he will neither have child support obligations nor rights to the child. In the absence of specific legal protection, courts may order a sperm donor to pay child support or recognize his parental rights, and will invariably do so where the insemination is carried out by natural, as opposed to artificial means.