Think before you donate

As a parent, it’s hard to imagine having to rely on the actions of strangers to make having children a reality.

But that’s just the situation many people face when they have to turn to a sperm donor to help them conceive. It’s an emotional decision that has been in the news recently, with the opening of a new national sperm bank in Birmingham, and one that’s worth taking the time to research because the legal implications of sperm donation are complex.

The Human Fertilisation Embryology Authority (HFEA) is the UK’s independent regulator for sperm donation. When a donor attends one of the HFEA’s licensed clinics and donates to people he doesn’t know, he will not be the legal father of any child conceived, nor be open to any financial or inheritance claim from that child in the future.

However, a new HFEA report highlights the fact that the amount of new registered sperm donors in 2013 has taken
a marked downturn year-on-
year from 631 to 586, and the statistical predominance
of White British donors makes
it obvious that there is an issue with domestic sperm donation, especially if you are a prospective parent of another ethnicity.

This has caused many people to turn to non-HFEA licensed sources. If a donor or parent goes down this road they need to be aware of the pitfalls. For the donor, there is a chance he could lay himself open to a claim of legal fatherhood, making him liable for any financial or inheritance claims from a future child. There are also health considerations relating to whether donors have been pre-screened for any genetic conditions or not.

For the parents and children, using an unregulated source means they could lose the ability to trace a donor if a child wishes to find out more when they are older. At present, there are systems in place through HFEA for children to access general information, either via a parental application or directly, depending on their age.

All of these avenues to finding out more information about a sperm donor, or even any donor-siblings, are open to the parents and children who used the services of a registered and regulated clinic. If they found an unregistered source online, then the data trail could be very cold by the time a child decides they want to know more.

In 2005, a change in the law gave a child the right to contact the donor once they reached the age of 18, provided up-to-date contact details are available. But while the legal right is there, the moral and emotional implications are worth considering. I do wonder what impact contact has on the child’s relationship with their legal parents or what happens if the donor now has a family of his own who doesn’t know that he donated in the past. Aside from the law, there is the question of whether the right to know prevails and what the fallout could be.

In the end, it is up to both donor and potential parents
to do their research ahead of time and to understand the legal implications of the regulated and non-regulated options. SJ

Marilyn Stowe is senior partner at Stowe Family Law