​SPERM DONOR KIDS: FACTS & MYTHS

Is a sperm donor a child’s legal father? Do sperm donors pay child support? Can sperm donors track down the children they’ve created?

There are a lot of misconceptions around sperm donation and donor-conceived children. Our Semovo team separates the facts from the myths so you can understand the truth about being a sperm donor and what happens about the children you’ve helped to be born:

“Sperm donors have to pay child support.”

If you donate through a licensed sperm bank like Semovo, you’re never financially responsible for the children you help to create. But if you donate privately through other means then you may be financially liable as the child’s legal father.

It all depends on the circumstances of the donation, and whether the person you donated to privately is married or in a civil partnership or not. It’s why it’s always best to donate through a sperm bank if you want to help someone have a baby, even if you know them.

“If you’re a sperm donor, you’re the father of all the kids who are born.”

Biologically you are the father, but genetics is as far as your involvement goes if you donate through a licensed sperm bank. You’re not responsible in any way, and are under no obligation whatsoever to have any form of relationship with any child you help to create, if that child chooses to contact you in future. Donating through a sperm bank means you’re legally protected.

“Children will come looking for you in future years if you donate sperm now.”

Not necessarily. Under UK law all sperm donors must agree to be identifiable to the children they help to create. But it doesn’t mean that a donor-conceived person will want to know who you are.

Being identifiable means that UK fertility regulator, the HFEA, holds your details on record, including contact information. When a person born through your sperm reaches the age of 18, they can apply to the HFEA for this information about you. But some people may not realise they’re donor-conceived or want to get in touch. The option is there, so people born through sperm donation can trace their genetic heritage.

“Sperm donors can track down all the children they’ve created.”

It’s entirely the choice of the donor-conceived child to get in touch with you, not the other way around. Sperm donors are never given any information about children they’ve helped to be born, except the year of birth and gender.

“Sperm donors can find out who’s using their sperm.”

Sperm donation is anonymous between donor and recipient. The person using your sperm is not given information about who you are. The only details about you that they receive from us is your personal sperm donor profile, which you help to write.

“Sperm donors can create loads of children.”

You may be surprised to learn that in the UK, every registered sperm donor is limited to creating 10 separate families only. So your sperm can only be used by 10 different patients. We keep careful track of this to ensure limits are never exceeded, recording how many children are born to each of our sperm donors, which is also shared with the HFEA for their central Register.

There’s no limit however to the numbers of children born within each of these families. This is to give people the chance to have more children using the same sperm donor, so they have full biologically-related siblings. At Semovo, if treatment using your sperm is successful, a patient has the opportunity to reserve more of your sperm for their future use if they wish to.

Donate your sperm with Semovo

If you’d like to be a sperm donor with Semovo, read through the criteria, FAQs and if you’re ready, simply apply online. You can donate to any of our sperm banks in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow.

If you’d like to know more about being a sperm donor or have a question, our Semovo team are here to help on 0345 266 1272 or email donate@semovo.co.uk