Quebec may impose sperm donor restrictions as result of shocking findings

The Quebec government is considering instituting a sperm donor registry, as well as a limit on donations, as controversies grow regarding 'mega-donors.'

Key Takeaways:

• A documentary exposed a serial sperm donation scheme that resulted in over 600 children being fathered by just three men.

• In response, the Quebec government is considering mandating limits on sperm donation, as well as creating a sperm donor registry.

• The unregulated fertility industry has led to individual donors around the world each fathering hundreds, if not thousands, of children.

The Details:

Following the release of "Père 100 enfants," or "Father of 100 Children," the Central Committee on Clinical Ethics in Medically Assisted Reproduction recommended a registry of sperm, egg and embryo donors be created, and that the number of sperm donations be limited to just 10.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) in Quebec has since begun to act on those recommendations, with Health Minister Christian Dubé saying he would be implementing some of them soon, and others later.

The three men in the documentary — Philippe Normand (donor X), Dominik Seelos (donor Y) and Raphaël Normand (donor Z) — are believed to have fathered over 600 children, and are believed to still be donating sperm "excessively."

One woman whose children were fathered by a serial sperm donor said the recommendations gave her hope, but that they also aren't enough. "From what I understand, this only affects clinical donors. Obviously, the government will have to look into artisanal donors; it's urgent," she said in an interview with Noovo Info. "Donor Y even gave himself a false identity to continue deceiving mothers."

Dubé acknowledged the concerns, but said women need to be more careful as well. "We would need to make legislative changes that would include fines, but that's something that will take a little longer. But in the meantime, if I had one piece of advice to give to women, it would be to go through a donation center," the minister said.

The Backstory:

Journalists Marie-Christine Bergeron and Maxime Landry released a documentary called "Father of 100 Children," which found that three men, all from the same family, had fathered over 600 children. Many of the women who conceived using the men's sperm were not aware of the sperm donation scheme, and were horrified when the documentary brought the horrible details to light.

“We got a lot of feedback from many mothers, so we realized it was a bigger story. So, we continued investigating, and we discovered another sperm donor from the same family,” Noovo Info anchor Marie-Christine Bergeron told CTV News. “Now, there are more than 600 children from these three men and it’s really a never-ending story.”

Two of the donors were found to have tyrosinemia, a genetic disorder which affects the liver and kidneys. Children who inherit this disease will need to follow a specific diet and take medication their entire lives to remain healthy.

Yet this is far from an anomaly; across the globe, horror stories such as this have become common, in large part due to the lack of regulations surrounding the fertility industry. There have been multiple scandals in Australia, with donor-conceived adults or parents who conceived through the fertility industry learning donors have fathered hundreds of children. Some are estimated to have potentially fathered thousands of children.

A Netflix documentary, "Our Father," revealed a horror story of numerous people all fathered by a fertility doctor, who implanted his own sperm into patients. At least two of the siblings had dated and been intimate, not knowing they were related.

Over 30 fertility doctors in the United States alone have been caught or accused of using their own sperm to impregnate patients.

Such issues have become so widespread that multiple countries in the European Union are calling for stricter limits on sperm donation to be put into place.

The Bottom Line:

The fertility industry has prioritized the wants of adults over the needs and right of the children being created. And as those children become adults, some are speaking out.

A Harvard Medical School study found that 62% of children conceived through donor technologies believe it to be unethical and immoral, including because there is so little information provided to them about their backgrounds, heritage, and medical histories.

“I am a human being, yet I was conceived with a technique that had its origins in animal husbandry,” one donor-conceived person wrote in a book for Anonymous Us. “Worst of all, farmers kept better records of their cattle’s genealogy than assisted reproductive clinics … how could the doctors, sworn to ‘first do no harm’ create a system where I now face the pain and loss of my own identity and heritage?”