Sperm donation across Europe
Donating sperm to provide someone with the opportunity to have a child is a truly altruistic act. You can transform an individual’s or a couple’s life by simply ejaculating into a container. Seemingly, it’s quite straight forward.
Looking across Europe, we can see that sperm donation is in fact not straight forward. Regulations differ between countries ranging from the anonymity of the donor, the offsprings access to donor information, to the compensation offered to donors.
In Germany, anonymous donation is not allowed. Open-identity sperm donation favours the offsprings right to know their parentage over the donor’s anonymity. In the UK, anonymous donation ended in 2005 and at 18 offspring are able to access information about their donor. In Denmark, both anonymous and open-identity donations are allowed – the recipient has the choice.
But there is a darker reality to some of the issues surrounding gamete donation. In countries across Europe, assisted reproduction has been fraught with donation scandals and there has been a new call by the Nordics to protect the status and rights of donors and donor-conceived individuals
Netherlands
The Netherlands has been hit by numerous sperm donation scandals. Dutch guidelines limit donors to a maximum of 25 genetic offspring, distributed among 12 women, to reduce the risk of consanguinity. However, multiple stories have been published indicating that these guidelines have not been adhered to. Headlines include, ‘Over 400 donor-conceived people have more that 25 half-siblings’, and ‘At-least 85 mass sperm donors discovered in the Netherlands’. It is estimated that at least 3000 children in the Netherlands now have 25 or more half-siblings.
The situations have evolved from the fault of clinics and donors. Clinics have reused the same donor, exchanged sperm between clinics and not tracked the repeated selection of the same donor and resulting cumulative number of offspring. Donors have wrongly been active across multiple clinics. The result is mass donors. Some fathering up to 75 children. There are even reports of fertility doctors being mass donors through their clinics and lab technicians.
UK
The UK has made some positive changes in gamete donation. Most donor-conceived children in the UK, after 2005, have access to information about the donor from the age of 18. They also have the opportunity to join the UK Donor Sibling Link (DSL). The DSL allows donor-conceived adults who share the same donor (donor conceived siblings) to share contact details. The programme allows individuals to develop relationships with their donor-conceived siblings. This can allow individuals to understand their identity, seek a sense of community and ultimately avoid incestuous relationships.
Nevertheless, the UK has also had its fair share of prolific sperm donor incidences. Earlier this year, Robert Albon was named by a UK Judge to warn people who may consider buying sperm from him. Albon advertised his sperm donation services on social media under the name Joe Donor. He claimed to father over 180 children over several countries and subjected a couple to controlling behaviours over their child (demanding parental rights). His story highlights the risk of unregulated sperm donation.
Europe & The Nordics
The four Nordic National Ethics Councils have expressed concerns over the uncertainty about the long term impact of current international practises and have highlighted the need for international limits on donor offspring.
Legislative changes around assisted reproduction for same sex couples & single women and fertility declines in heterosexual couples have increased the demand and pressure on sperm and egg donation across Europe.
As some countries have struggled to meet the donation demand domestically, there has been an increased reliance on cryobanks exporting gametes internationally. For example, roughly 83% of donor-conceived individuals in Norway are conceived using sperm imported from Denmark which homes some of the world’s largest cryobanks.
Whilst many European countries have national limits for the number of children that can be conceived from the same donor, there are currently no international limits. As a result, donors may end up with hundreds of offspring across the world. It poses challenges for donors if there is potential for all these offspring to seek contact. There is also concern for the donor-conceived individuals that having numerous unknown donor-conceived siblings can result in psychological and social challenges.
