Sperm donation is very real and can be a life-challenging decision for many people. Many men are ready to become sperm donors but lack knowledge about sperm donation. Here are five things you must know before donating sperm.
- You Must Be Perfect in every way To Donate Sperm
Before donating your sperms, make sure you are physically, mentally, and health-wise perfect and up to the mark, coming up as per the standard of Sperm Banks. They are usually looking for people, who are not very old, at your early age above 18 and below 40 preferably, who seem all physically and mentally fit and looking forward to donating their DNA, only those people will be chosen.
The irony is that you may not hide your internal flaws with them as they usually have pre-screening tests that will assess you for multiple conditions and things so surely anything which you might be hiding from these banks will not go unnoticed. All such evaluations to test for your perfection are a standard requirement from multiple authorities such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and American Society of Reproductive Medicine before you can donate sperm, so, therefore, there is no escaping from them in any way.
- Your Total Life will be exposed to the Sperm Bank
Be prepared to expose and share your complete lifestyle with the sperm bank through their online application before you may walk in for the process itself.
Some stories and things that you may always not have been very comfortable to share with anyone, you have to now share it as a binding to the bank with all your truthfulness.
This may include details from the very basics such as your education, age, profession, your traits, and characteristics to your daily eating, sleeping habits, drinking, smoking, and habits about much more that you may unnerving and deeply personal.
According to a New York Times publication titled “10 Things to Know About Being a Sperm Donation,” you’ll also be expected to run scheduled trips to the donor banks.
You could be requested to make sperm donation several times to cover for the wastage, damaged sperm, and high attrition rate evident during implantation.
You’ll also be asked questions about your family’s medical history and any pre-existing conditions that may belong to you or any of your family members.
In addition to the above, the pre-screening tests and the results of it will further expose the details that you may have not deliberately avoided.
- You may be examined multiple times
You must know that before the actual donation process, the bank may call you multiple times for different forms of examinations and not just once as; they try to evaluate you from different perspectives to ensure that their standard for their evaluation is met before they take your sperm. Some of these examinations may include the following:
Physical Exam – You will be asked to provide your blood and urine samples to examine you for any infectious diseases such as HIV or any other viruses. If you are a regular donator of sperms, you will be asked for such examinations twice in a year.
Semen Examination – Before the actual donation, your semen will be analyzed for multiple things such as sperm quality, quantity, and movement of sperms in your semen.
Genetic Testing – You’ll be examined as per your family history, at least two generations up to check you for any hereditary diseases that may be running in your family.
Psychological Evaluation – You may be called in for psychological evaluation sessions as well, to analyze and tell you about the different perspectives about sperm donation, for instance, if you’d like to hide your identity from the family of the sperm acceptor or your future biological children. You or your partner may also be counseled to educate you for your donation.
- It will affect your Sexual Life
You have to be prepared, that sperm donation will be affecting your sex life in many days. For instance, before the donation, you’ll be asked to abstain from sex or masturbation for at least 2 to 3 days. Since you might be called for sperm donation for some times, often a weekly basis for up to six months, this means that you will have to abstain from your sexual activities more often. You will be contractually and legally obligated to masturbate on their given schedule.
This also means that you will also have to coordinate with your sexual partner about your donation schedule and plan your work and sexual activities accordingly. All this can have implications on your social and love life in several ways. For instance, you may not be able to cope up with the desire of your sexual partners on time, which may result in many problems for you. So you should be prepared for it in several ways.
- Children can reach you after decades
Although you may choose to be an anonymous donor of your sperms to the recipient, be prepared that your biological children can still identify and come to you after decades. Your sperm may be frozen and stored in the bank before it gets donated to the recipient. Once the recipients have children and they turn to the age of 18, they can get their DNA test done to find out who is their biological father, which can certainly identify you. This has been made possible with the advancement of genetic technology recently which was not previously available as such.
So be prepared that your biological children can visit your house, and may affect your social life once they confront your future spouse and your other children which may or may not accept the fact easily that you had donated your sperm through which you have more children outside your actual family.
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- Requires serious commitment
Donating sperm comes with certain responsibilities. You aren’t quite free after donating your sperm, even decades later.
Several things may happen in the meantime. You may suffer previously undetected chronic illness.
If this happens, you are under an obligation to contact the sperm bank with the new medical discovery whether it’s from you or a close relative. This way, they can screen and update your sperm database.
Still, some fertility facilities require that you consent to disclose your identity to at least one of your offspring once they become adults. Even though these sperm banks claim anonymity, you aren’t completely insulated.
Determined offspring can still use publicly available DNA kits and online data to track and reveal their identity.
Your contract with sperm banks is a binding document and it may impose strict guidelines including regulations regarding eating, sleeping and social activities. Hence you need to be seriously committed.
As per a PubMed Central publication titled “An overview on ethical issues about sperm donation,” guidelines include age, anonymity, and number of donor offspring.
As such, your responsibility as a sperm donor doesn’t end when you finally stop supplying your semen to the cryo-banks. Instead, they keep updating your medical, mental, and physical condition as you age.
- It’s difficult to qualify
Although you are voluntarily offering your sperm for donation, it’s hard to be accepted as a prospective donor. There are many criteria that you must meet before they enroll you.
The key parameters include education levels, intelligence, and criminal record. After this, you still have to undergo a complete physical examination and mental evaluation.
Then there is the minimum height requirement. Forget the evaluation if you are shorter than 5’5”. Most clients seek tall donors.
Even after you qualify and provide a test donation, your sperm may not withstand the freeze and spoil shortly afterward. In such a situation, you could be disqualified for this reason.
Still, you only have a one percent chance of being selected. This means you have a better chance of getting admitted into Harvard or Stanford than being selected as a sperm donor.
Once you start providing fertility vials, you still have to observe a strict diet and lead a restricted lifestyle.
- Sperm donation is an option for many
The sperm collection is growing. Many people are becoming aware of reproductive health risks that exist. And men, due to their nature of work and lifestyle choices, suffer the brunt of infertility issues.
You can thus harvest your sperm for future usage by yourself or help families in reproductive health distress.
Male factor infertility is a common occurrence. More than a third of all infertility cases crop from here. Some experts even contend that this figure is up to half of all infertility cases.
Triggers to make infertility are many. They range from carrier genetic diseases that may prevent sperm production, to environmental issues that permanently ravage hitherto perfect sperm.
Whichever the cause of male infertility, many couples may still desire to start a family. And so they seek sperm donation for the same.
More women are delaying getting married, while others choose to be single or enter into a same-sex marriage.
All of them resort to donated sperm to realize their dreams.
- Donated sperm is quarantined
Donated sperm is meant to be issued to couples seeking such assistance. Here the donors are known and have completed all the prerequisite conditions before embarking on sperm collection.
In some cases though, anonymous donors could provide their seeds for anyone who would want fertility assistance. Many sperm banks and even the FDA recommends that such anonymous donation be quarantined for six months.
Why? Because sperm received anonymously haven’t cleared all the hurdles necessary to make it eligible for donations.
Within these six months, a lot of tests and determinations are made on the samples. Secretly donated sperm is healthy and of good quality, which is why fertility clinics accept it in the first place.
According to the Reproductive Partner Fertility Centre online blog article titled, “Overcome Male Factor Infertility by Using Donor Sperm,” the quarantine session is used to screen the sperm for any genetic disorder and STIs.
Abnormalities usually manifest later. Hence sperm banks usually practice caution by reviewing sperm health during this period. This precaution is meant to protect the recipients and the resulting pregnancy.
But it doesn’t give a clue on the mental and medical attributes of the donor. Thus the medical history of the donor, his mental state, and his medical records are reviewed and verified to fill in the missing conditions.
They also corroborate the reasons for anonymous donations.
- Mental counseling may be involved
You may have been selected to donate sperm. Before you begin this process though, most fertile clinics demand that you undergo a thorough mental counseling session.
After psychological and medical checks, you still are required to understand and appreciate fully why you are donating sperm.
These sessions are vital for the process. It’s here where they educate you about the legal, psychological, and reproductive consequences of undertaking this procedure.
More than any other decision you make, sperm donation exercise could have potentially far-reaching repercussions on your life, now and in the future.
They include strangers demanding that they see you since you are their father. Still, you are made to understand that the donation is for fertility clinics and you have no say on how and where it’s used.
Then on issues regarding your responsibilities as a sperm donor. The counseling could cover your relationship with the fertility clinics on one hand, and with the sperm recipient, on the other.
In conclusion, we have provided evidence-based knowledge regarding five things men should know before donating sperm. With the provided information, we hope that you can make a decision on whether you want to donate sperm or not.
SIMILAR QUESTION
How Can I Maximize My Sperm Donation?
Introduction
Sperm donation is a form of donation whereby a man donates his sperm for the purpose of helping another couple conceive a child. It is a very important process for couples who are unable to conceive naturally, and it is becoming increasingly popular. However, there are numerous factors to consider when deciding to become a sperm donor. In this paper, we will discuss how to maximize sperm donation in order to ensure the best outcome for all parties involved.
Factors to Consider
When considering sperm donation, it is important to consider a few key factors. First, it is important to be aware of the legal implications of donation. Each state has different laws regarding sperm donation, so it’s important to research the relevant laws in your area. Additionally, it is important to consider the ethical implications of sperm donation, such as the rights of the child created from the donation and the rights of the donor.
Next, you should consider the medical aspects of sperm donation. Before donating, you must be tested for any potential diseases or other medical conditions that could potentially be passed on to the child. Additionally, you should make sure that you are healthy and fit enough to donate.
Finally, you should consider the financial and emotional implications of donation. Donating sperm can be financially rewarding, but it is important to weigh the potential financial gains against the emotional toll of not knowing the child you helped create. Additionally, it is important to understand the commitment involved in sperm donation, such as the need to provide regular updates on your health and lifestyle.
Tips for Maximizing Sperm Donation
Once you have decided to donate sperm, there are a few steps you can take to maximize your donation.
First, it is important to be honest with the recipient couple. Provide them with accurate information about your health, lifestyle, and background. This will help to ensure that the recipient couple is as informed as possible and can make an informed decision about their choice of donor.
Second, you should take steps to ensure that you are in good health before donating. This includes eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and avoiding smoking, drugs, and excessive alcohol consumption. Additionally, you should make sure to get regular medical check-ups to ensure that you are in optimal condition for donation.
Third, you should make sure to be discreet about your donation. It is important to be respectful of the privacy and wishes of the recipient couple. This includes not discussing your donation with others or posting about it on social media.
Conclusion
Sperm donation is a noble act that can help create families and bring joy to those unable to conceive naturally. However, it is important to consider the legal, medical, financial, and ethical implications before deciding to donate sperm. Additionally, there are steps you can take to maximize your donation, such as being honest with the recipient couple, maintaining good health, and being discreet about your donation.
