Original article appeared in Closer magazine by Mel Fallowfield (September 2023)
This article shares the story of women desperate to have a baby and are prepared to find donor sperm online and attempt Artificial Insemination (AI) themselves at home, rather than go to a licensed clinic.
Dr. Carole Gilling-Smith from the Agora Clinic was asked to comment:
Clinics arc the safest option for AI for many reasons. We screen sperm donors for diseases, sperm quality and family history.
We sort out the legalities regarding parenthood, and the number of families born from the same donor can’t exceed 10 in accordance with UK law.”
But it is very expensive. For women using Al, there’s a 15 per cent chance of conceiving -on average they end up having between three and six rounds of treatment, which costs up to £8,000.
Many health authorities won’t fund any of it. The number of people I’ve seen in the past four years requesting donor sperm treatment has
quadrupled, there’s clearly a huge demand, so I can only imagine how many people are turning to unregulated donations.
“While I acknowledge the problems and expense of using a donor, I’m alarmed to think of women using social media to find a sperm donor without knowing the potential risks and consequences of their actions.
I just find it so sad that the NHS isn’t thereto prevent this high-risk activity from occurring. Proper funding should be in place for those wishing to have children through donor sperm, to make it safe for women – at the moment they’re playing Russian roulette with their safety.”
