Using Donor Sperm

Donor sperm can be used to treat couples where there is a male factor infertility problem - a very low or absent sperm count, a vasectomy, the risk of transmitting a genetically inherited condition, or to treat single women.

Sperm donors are recruited from a wide range of backgrounds. They are required to be fit and healthy, of normal intelligence and with no family history of hereditary disease.

Donors are screened for sexually transmitted disease, including HIV infection. This screening is repeated at regular intervals. As far as possible we use sperm from a donor who has the same physical characteristics as any male partner, e.g. race, skin, hair and eye colour.

Donor insemination involves placing sperm directly into the womb (intrauterine insemination) during the woman’s fertile period.

The clinic will monitor and time treatment by asking you to test for urine hormone surges (natural cycles), or by follicle tracking using ultra sound scans. We may ask you to take fertility drugs - tablets and/or injections (stimulated cycles).

Donor sperm can also be used in IVF cycles to form embryos.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA, 1990) provides a legal framework to protect the interests of the donor, any children born as a result of treatment and also the legal parents of those children. This ensures that the husband or partner of the woman being treated would be the legal father of any child born as a result of donor insemination.

The HFEA keep a confidential register of all patients treated by donor insemination, the children born, and the donors themselves.

Sperm donors remain anonymous as far as patients are concerned, but, on reaching the age of 18, the children may discover the identity of their donor by contacting the HFEA.

Treatment using donor sperm requires careful consideration, given the emotional and psychological issues that surround this type of treatment. Anybody considering treatment must see the Birmingham Women's Fertility Centre counsellor before meeting one of our senior nurses, to discuss both the emotional, legal and practical issues involved.

Under the new 2008 HFEA act there is clear legal provision around parenthood. For more information see our Fertility Journey page.

There is a general shortage of donors in this country, which means there may be a wait before we can offer you treatment.