HFEA statement: unregulated sperm donation
Please find below a statement from the HFEA on unregulated sperm donation.
Clare Ettinghausen, Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs at the HFEA, said:
“It’s always safer to have treatment with donor sperm at a HFEA licenced clinic, where there are laws and guidance to protect and support patients and donors. Clinics are required by law to ensure that donors, patients, and any future children are protected by carrying out rigorous health tests, ensuring legal parenthood consents are in place, and offering everyone involved counselling to ensure they are completely informed and comfortable with their decision.
“Licensed clinics are also expected to adhere to the ‘10-family limit’, which restricts the number of families that can be created with a single donor through fertility treatment in the UK. The reason we set limits on the number of families a donor can help create is that we know through consultation this is the level that donors and donor-conceived people feel comfortable with in terms of the numbers of potential donor-conceived children, half-siblings and families that might be created.
“For more information about sperm donation, visit the HFEA website.”
Ends
Further information:
Review date: 12 February 2027
