Category Archives: Sperm Donation

How Far We’ve Come Together!

Imagine it’s the early eighties, a very different time for the lesbian community. Although coming out to friends, family and co-workers was being encouraged by activists to advance the cause for gay civil rights, living a closeted life was still the stark reality for many if not most lesbians across the country.

It was in this oppressive environment that I decided to move forward on what was then a revolutionary idea: helping lesbians like me become mothers. At the time, I was in private practice as a women’s health care provider. I was also a co-founder of San Francisco’s Lyon-Martin Women’s Health Clinic—named for lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin— which was the first facility in the country specifically devoted to meeting the medical needs of the lesbian community.

The Barriers Lesbians Were Facing Were Pretty Daunting

I heard repeatedly from my lesbian patients that they wanted to have children but were having trouble finding supportive ob/gyns, fertility specialists or sperm banks. That’s why I started Pacific Reproductive Services in 1984 with the mission to provide sperm bank, fertility and insemination services to the lesbian community. Demand for our services grew and so did the number of sperm donors we were able to provide our patients. By 1990, we started shipping sperm across the country.

A Commitment To Provide “Willing To Be Known” Donors

We decided from the beginning to focus on providing clients with donors who are contractually obligated to meet a child born of their donations at least once when he or she reaches 18, at the child’s request. Any additional meetings or communications beyond that point must be mutually agreed upon by the child and the donor.

Although these donors are more challenging to recruit than anonymous donors, they are another important way for us to support our clients. They prefer these donors because they want their children to have the opportunity, if they choose to pursue it, to understand a little more about the other half of their biological heritage.

With more and more children now coming of age, some have chosen to be in contact with their donors. These have been almost universally positive experiences on both sides. There’s no question more children will want to meet their donors in the future but even if some don’t, the main thing for their mothers—and for me— is that they have that option available to them.

Sherron Mills
Sherron is the founder and president of Pacific Reproductive Services

 

 

Should Women Using Sperm Donors Have Some Genetic Testing, Too?

With today’s incredible advances in genetic testing, you’re right to expect your sperm donor to be as free as possible of conditions that could seriously affect the health of your baby. But what about you?

I highly recommend that if you’re planning to become pregnant, you should make an appointment with your doctor to have a complete medical evaluation before conception, including genetic tests. Genes contain the information your body’s cells—and your baby’s—need to function.

The genetic makeup your baby is born with can affect your baby’s health in two major ways:

  • Single gene disorders are caused by a problem in one gene and run in families. Examples are cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia.
  • Chromosomes are the structures where genes are located. Chromosome disorders occur when all or part of a chromosome is missing or extra, or if the structure of one or more chromosomes is not normal. Most chromosome disorders that involve whole chromosomes do not run in families.

Depending on your genetic risk factors, your doctor might suggest you meet with a genetic professional for counseling. Reasons to consider seeking genetic counseling include:

  • A woman who is pregnant or plans to become pregnant at 35 years or older.
  • A family history of a known or suspected genetic condition, birth defect, or chromosomal abnormality. These include Fragile X Syndrome, the leading cause of mental retardation, spinal muscular atrophy, an often fatal neurological disease and cystic fibrosis.
  • Two or more pregnancy losses.
  • Exposure to a drug or other substance known or suspected of interfering with fetal development.
  • Having a medical condition known or suspected to affect fetal development.
  • Increased risk of getting or passing on a genetic disorder because of one’s ethnic background. Examples include sickle cell anemia, which has the highest rate of occurrence in African Americans and, and secondly, in Hispanics. Also, people of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry are at higher risk for diseases such as Tay-Sachs, a rare inherited disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

Taking good care of yourself prior to getting pregnant is the best gift you can give, both to you and your baby. And with today’s advances, genetic testing, as part of a good general medical exam, is the best insurance you can have that the genes you’re passing along are good ones.

Sherron Mills
Sherron is the founder and president of Pacific Reproductive Services

With Donor Genetic Testing, More Is Better

The number of tests done varies among sperm banks, sometimes significantly.

In recent years, lesbian couples and single women seeking to have children through artificial insemination can be more confident that FDA-regulated U.S. sperm banks are screening and testing their donors for serious inheritable conditions.

But despite the growing prevalence of genetic testing, be aware that the number and type of tests conducted on prospective sperm donors varies among sperm banks. Additionally, federal regulators and state licensing authorities (with the exception of the New York State Department of Health) don’t currently require donor genetic testing. They do, however, conduct rigorous and regular on-site reviews of all U.S. sperm banks and mandate testing for communicable diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea, and for sperm quality.

What genetic testing does the sperm bank perform on donor applicants?

Check with the sperm bank you’re considering about its genetic testing protocol for donor applicants. The recommendations developed by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists can be considered today’s “best practices” in this field. For the testing we perform at PRS, which incorporate and go beyond the basic best practices standard, please visit our donor testing page.

Keep in mind there’s no testing protocol that could possibly cover the limitless number of genetic disorders human beings can carry. These range along a broad spectrum from harmless to minor to serious to life-threatening. Plus, not all genetic diseases are inherited: Some genetic mutations can occur spontaneously during embryonic development, and others through some type of environmental exposure that can manifest at any time of life. The risk of a birth defect resulting from donor insemination, according to leading medical research institutions, is the same as the risk from conceiving naturally: in the range of 2% to 4%.

Genetic Disease Prevention: A Breakthrough in Child Health

Genetic testing is one of the most important new frontiers in medicine. It’s also one of the biggest advances in the history of the sperm banking field. The number of devastating diseases identified from routine screening tests would’ve seemed unlikely even a decade ago.

Here are important factors to consider when choosing a sperm donor: his general health, physical characteristics, ethnicity, education, and interests. With the growing availability of genetic testing, the quality and breadth of a sperm bank’s donor testing program is vital information to add into your decision-making process.

Sherron Mills
Sherron is founder and president of Pacific Reproductive Services

A Young Man Connects With His Sperm Donor

You’re thinking of having a baby and wish to use a sperm donor. Should you choose a “willing to be known” donor or an anonymous one? At Pacific Reproductive Services, the large majority of our clients—most of whom are either single or coupled lesbians or heterosexual women choosing single motherhood—select willing to be known donors over the anonymous ones we also offer. From the beginning, we have made recruiting such donors our top priority as a sperm bank because we know our clients very much want their children to have the opportunity, if they choose to pursue it, to understand a little more about the other half of their biological lineage.

How Does It Work To Choose a “Willing to be Known” Donor?

Every WTBK donor contractually agrees to provide PRS current contact information and to have at least one face-to-face meeting with a child when he or she reaches 18, should the child request it. Increasingly, this initial conversation occurs on real-time video such as Skype if a physical meeting is impractical. Any additional meetings must be mutually agreed upon by both the child and the donor. In addition, under California law, the donor waives all parental rights, eliminating the possibility that he could at some point seek custody or visitation privileges.

“I Don’t Know What To Expect, What To Feel”

Cooper was one of the first babies conceived through artificial insemination using a PRS WTBK donor. At the age of 19, he made one of the biggest decisions of his young life. With the full support of the lesbian couple who are his parents, he decided to pursue the option of contacting his sperm donor. With a mixture of nerves, anticipation and a desire for a degree of closure, he filled out the request to Pacific Reproductive Services for the donor’s information.

“I don’t know what to expect, what to feel,” Cooper said. “Just to know his name is pretty great.” His moms were just as nervous. “I just hope it goes well —it’s so momentous,” one commented.

“Such A Moving Experience”

The long-awaited conversation between Cooper and the donor was captured forever by a film crew working on an MTV documentary on gay parents and their children. Connor never stopped smiling as he chatted with the donor who had also been looking forward to the conversation. “It was such a moving experience,” Cooper said, after the call was over. They have continued to stay in contact.

But not all young people now coming of age as part of the first wave of inseminations using our WTBK donors have shown the same interest as Connor and others in making contact. At least not yet. They may at some point in their lives. But the main thing for me—and for their mothers—is that they have that option open to them.

Sherron Mills
Sherron is founder and president of Pacific Reproductive Services

A Rare Breed: The “Willing To Be Known” Sperm Donor

First, a little clarification. Most sperm banks use the term “ID Open” to mean a donor who agrees to have his contact information released by a sperm bank to a child at 18 or older, at the child’s request. AT PRS, we term our donors “willing to be known” (WTBK) because we go one step further: they’re required to sign a contract that they’ll have at least one meeting with a child.

These contacts will increasingly take place via real-time video technology such as Skype. After this conversation, both the donor and the child must agree to any additional communication. Although after so many years we cannot guarantee contact, the large majority of requested meetings do happen.

In my many years as a donor coordinator, I have interviewed thousands of potential donors. We accept less than 1 in 25 into our program. Almost all of our accepted donors are WTBK because our primary focus is to meet the special needs of lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual women who want to form alternative families. They typically have a deep interest in having as much knowledge as possible available to their children, should they wish it.

Our WTBK donors tend to share some special characteristics that make them willing to enter what is, after all, a serious, long-term commitment. They are paid more than anonymous donors but that is only one motivation. They tend to be empathetic people who can put themselves in the place of a child who might someday want to know more about his or her origins. Also, they are supportive of women who want to form alternative families and typically have friends or family members who have done so. They really want to help make that dream possible.

This WTBK donor expresses the sentiments of many when he says:

“I’m in my last year of law school and I won’t deny the extra income is pretty helpful, but I’m also very close with a single friend who used a sperm donor. I saw how important it was for her to give her child the opportunity to meet the donor someday. It just felt good to me to go ahead and give another child that chance.”

It is a lovely fact that, as the years go by, we hear of many meaningful connections that have been made. Some children may never feel the need to take that step. But for their mothers, and for us, the important thing is that they have the opportunity.

by Lisa Ferretti

Lisa is Donor Coordinator for Pacific Reproductive Services