Sperm donation in ten questions

Sperm donation is a free gift. His conditions of anonymity were modified by the bioethics bill adopted on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 at the National Assembly. From the thirteenth month following the promulgation of the law, children conceived from sperm or oocyte donation will be able to request non-identifying information (age, motivations, physical characteristics) but also the identity of the donor. From that same date, donors must therefore consent to non-identifying and identifying data being transmitted in the event that a child is born from this donation and claims them. Sperm donation, like egg donation, allows a couple who are carriers of a hereditary disease or who cannot have children to have them.

Who can donate his sperm?

According to the bioethics laws of 1994, reviewed in 2004 and then in 2011, it is necessary to have at least 18 and under 45, be of legal age and in good health to donate sperm. 

Who to contact to donate sperm?

To donate sperm, you must contact a center for the study and conservation of eggs and sperm (CECOS). There are 31 in France. These structures are generally attached to a hospital center. You can also practice egg donation and embryo donation.

How does sperm donation work?

Cum is collected on site by masturbation. Five or six visits to the Cecos are necessary in order to obtain a sufficient quantity of semen straws. Throughout his career, the donor is followed by a medical team and interviews with a psychologist are offered. After the sperm is collected, its characteristics are measured in the laboratory and it is frozen in liquid nitrogen at -196 ° C.

What are the preliminary examinations for the sperm donor?

A genealogical survey is carried out on the donor’s family in order to detect the possible presence of diseases or hereditary risks. a blood test is also carried out to verify the absence of infectious diseases (AIDS, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, HTLV, CMV and chlamydia infections). The donor rate cannot be retained – due to poor tolerance of sperm to freezing, poor sperm parameters, presence of infectious disease or hereditary risk – is about 40%.

Who can benefit from a sperm donation?

Heterosexual couples, female couples and single women can benefit. For women, the age limit for opening a file is 42 years. For heterosexual couples, sperm donation is indicated if the man is infertile, or in case ofazoospermie (absence of spermatozoa in the semen), or following failures of in vitro fertilization where the male factor appears to be the cause. It can also be indicated in order toavoid the transmission of a hereditary disease to the child. In this case, a committee made up of doctors, psychologists and geneticists meets to decide whether or not to agree to the procedure.

What are the assisted reproduction techniques associated with sperm donation?

Several techniques of medically assisted procreation (MAP, or MAP) can be associated with sperm donation: intra-cervical insemination, intrauterine insemination, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic injection (ICSI).

Are there enough sperm donors in France?

In 2015, only 255 men donated sperm and 3000 couples were on standby. Since the revision of the bioethics laws in 2004, the number of children born from the sperm of the same donor has been limited to ten (against five previously). In theory, the number of donors would therefore be sufficient, but in practice it is rare to have enough sperm from a single donor to obtain ten births.

What is the waiting period to receive a sperm donation?

The various between one and two years. In some centers, the recipient couple is offered to come with a donor in order to speed up the procedure. If this is the case, the latter’s sperm will not be used for the couple in question in order to respect thedonor anonymity.

Can you choose your sperm donor?

No. Sperm donation is strictly anonymous and, in France at least, the recipient couple cannot make any request as to the profile of the desired donor. However, the medical team does not take a donor at random. The medical records of the donor and the mother are compared to avoid cumulative risks. The donor’s physical characteristics (color of skin, eyes and hair) are also made to match those of the parents. The blood group is also examined, firstly for compatibility with the mother’s rh group, and secondly so that the blood type of the unborn child can match that of its parents. This is to avoid, if the parents choose to keep the secret as to the mode of conception, that the future child discovers in this way that he was conceived thanks to a sperm donation.