HOW MANY CHILDREN CAN BE BORN FROM YOUR SPERM? AND CAN THEY FIND EACH OTHER?

How many children do you think a sperm donor can create in the UK? If you’ve read the recent story in the news about the girl who’s tracking down 40 of her donor-conceived siblings, you might be worried about whether children limits are really as enforced as clinics claim.

The good news is that in the UK, sperm donation is very strictly controlled. The recent case in the news was in Orlando, America, where sperm donation isn’t governed by regulations.

10 families only: Central records to monitor children numbers

When you donate to a licensed sperm bank like Semovo in the UK, your sperm is only allowed by law to create 10 individual UK families.

A central record is kept by the fertility regulator the HFEA (Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority), listing the outcome of any cycle of fertility treatment using your donated sperm, including live births.

As Semovo is licensed by the HFEA all births resulting from your donation are provided to the HFEA.

This enables us and the HFEA to keep a very close eye on the numbers of children any one sperm donor creates.

Creating donor siblings: What happens in the UK

Sibling children born to families who’ve already successfully used your donor sperm don’t count towards the 10 family limit. This is to give people the opportunity to grow their families using the same sperm donor, ensuring their children are full siblings.

The 10 family limit applies to separate families only. So 10 different patients from different families can successfully have children using your sperm, after which your sperm can no longer be used in fertility treatment.

Finding donor siblings

It is possible for children born using your sperm to find each other in future. The HFEA operates the Donor Sibling Link, which uses its central record to match people who share you as their donor. The Donor Sibling Link is entirely voluntary, only those who have joined it can be matched and only donor-conceived people over the age of 18 can join.

Donating to a sperm bank: Safe, regulated sperm donation

The 10 family limit is just one of the reasons why it’s always best to donate to a sperm bank if you want to help someone conceive, even if you know the person you’re donating to.

Donating to a sperm bank protects you as the donor and the person using your sperm. As the donor you have no legal rights or responsibilities to any child born, and the person using your sperm has the reassurance of using safe, health-screened donor sperm in fertility treatment. If you wish to know treatment outcome, we can tell you if someone has a baby using your donated sperm, the year of their birth and their gender.

Donate sperm with Semovo: Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds & Glasgow

Like to know more about being a sperm donor? Speak to our friendly team on 0345 266 1272, browse our FAQs and learn more about the sperm donation process.

Semovo sperm donation clinics are located in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Glasgow, making it easy to donate sperm with us. You’ll receive implications counselling before you donate – remotely if you prefer from the privacy of your home – so we can all be sure it’s the right thing for you to do.

And we’re open at convenient times, so you can donate sperm when it suits you. Apply online to join Semovo – it only takes a few minutes.