App launched for purpose of skirting UK sperm donor regulations

A controversial new app was developed for the purpose of helping UK sperm donors to privately connect with people seeking to conceive, giving users another way to bypass regulations while negatively impacting the children involved.

Key Takeaways:

• An app now allows sperm donors to privately connect with people seeking to conceive, bypassing the nation’s regulations restricting the number of children a man can father through sperm donation.

• Experts warn that the app will “legitimize” private sperm donation.

• Children conceived via sperm donation often grapple with lasting ramifications.

The Details:

According to The Observer, the app, Y Factor, became available to users in the UK last month. It was created by Ole Schou, a Danish man who is also the founder of Cryos International, “the world’s largest egg and sperm bank.”

The app allows women and/or couples to connect with sperm donors; users can select whether they want donation to occur through “clinic, through sexual intercourse, or through ‘do-it-yourself’ (home insemination).”

Users can privately decide between themselves what kind of relationship they would like to have after the child is conceived as well as whether the sperm will be purchased or donated.

Though donors are asked to verify their profile with an ID, doing so is optional.

Why It Matters:

While UK law regulates that a man can only father 10 children through sperm donation at a clinic or sperm bank, there is no way to verify or control how many donations are given privately between individuals. UK regulations also require the donor’s name to appear on a child’s birth certificate as his or her father — a regulation that again is forfeited when the donation is made privately.

Sofie Hafström Nielsen, Y Factor’s chief executive, told The Observer that the UK’s sperm donor regulations are exactly why the organization launched its app in the country.

“We feel this is a choice between two grown-ups,” Hafström Nielsen said.

Private donors have always found a way to meet potential clients on their own, utilizing tactics like word of mouth or Facebook groups, but, as one regulator pointed out, Y Factor now gives an “air of legitimacy” to the process.

Natalie Sutherland, a fertility lawyer and partner at Burgess Mee Family Law, warned that if users pay for sperm donation through the app — which is illegal in the UK — they may be subject to an investigation by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

“Apps like this cut corners and expose people to serious medical, legal and emotional risks,” warned Professor Tim Child, a board member at HFEA.

Go Deeper:

Sperm and egg donation isn’t a harmless choice between two grown-ups — it’s one that has lasting ramifications on the children created.

Children who have been conceived through sperm and egg donation often grapple with questions regarding their identity. Some grow up without ever knowing the love of a father, while others have health problems that go unexplained. Later in life, many learn they have biological siblings they never knew existed.

Read more about the problems with unregulated sperm donation, and the trauma experienced by donor conceived people:

• Young woman learns she has at least 60 known half-siblings due to sperm donation

• Doctor calls for new sperm donor rules as 10 children are diagnosed with cancer

• Judge sounds alarm in unregulated sperm donation case, calling donor ‘wholly self-centered’

• Medical director warns women not to use ‘rogue’ sperm from men on social media

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