​WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR DONATED SPERM?

Did you know your sperm actually goes into quarantine as soon as it’s donated? It can’t be used just yet to help someone have a baby.

It’s all part of our health and safety regulations for sperm donation. In line with HFEA rules, we have to make sure you’re still healthy and free of any infectious diseases before your sperm donations can be made available.

Here’s some other facts about what happens to your sperm after donation and the different procedures we follow:

• Immediately after donation your sperm is checked in our lab to make sure it’s good quality. It’s then frozen in liquid nitrogen, keeping it safely preserved until someone chooses you as their sperm donor.
• Sperm donor matching happens through our central database, which contains a basic profile of you that we use to match you to someone who needs donor sperm. Your full profile is made available, so that they can read more about you and decide if you’re the right donor for them.
• When you’re matched, we’ll send samples of your sperm direct to the person’s fertility clinic to be used in treatment. Your sperm might be used by a single woman, same-sex couple or a couple who can’t conceive because of male infertility.
• We keep a detailed log every time your sperm is used in treatment and whether this treatment was successful or not. HFEA regulations allow you to create 10 separate UK families only so it’s vital we track your sperm usage and monitor how many children your donations have created.
• The HFEA also records details of all donor sperm treatments in its Register, including the donor details for each baby born. In future, if a donor-conceived person wants to know who their donor is, they can apply to the Register for information when they reach 18 years old. The Register also helps them to find donor siblings.
• You’ll need to let us know if you move to a new address, or change contact details. This is so we can update your sperm donor record and make sure it’s also changed on the HFEA’s Register.
• We can tell you if your donations have resulted in a baby. We can tell you the year the baby was born, and its gender. Many of our sperm donors want to know treatment outcome, it’s what makes sperm donation worthwhile.

Donate sperm with Semovo

Find out more about being a sperm donor. Read about the sperm donation process with Semovo, explore our sperm donor FAQs and find your nearest Semovo sperm bank.

If you’d like to apply, complete our quick and simple online application form.

If you’ve got any questions, we’re happy to help. Contact our friendly team on 0345 266 1272.