This was in the news a few weeks ago and I gave a written interview to the BBC about this issue as I am pregnant after the use of donor sperm in donor ICSI treatment. It was used on BBC News 24.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7720503.stm

The donor we used has already had proven fertility with the clinic, which means my child already had a half sibling. Both the other family who have benefitted from the donor's donation have an automatic right to use the donors sperm again in order for a full biological sibling to be born. This means there is a potential for more children from us both. Plus the donor will already be back in use by the clinic, meaning more families can use the same donor's sperm in their treatment until a further 8 live birth events have been achieved (unless of course the donor withdraws their consent). A twin birth counts as one live birth event and however many children I might have, they still only count as one event.

Potential, our donor could father more children, potentially meaning our child could have many more half siblings in the future, equally they could have no more as the treatment may not be successful.

There is a chronic shortage of sperm donors and many clinics in the UK are running low, have waiting lists or make the sperm so horrifically expensive it puts off people using it. More and more people are going abroad for donor sperm treatment or looking for private sperm donors for home insemination, which could potentially be dangerous. There are websites offering these services.

I can see why the HFEA are considering an increase in the limit, however, I personally am only semi comfortable with the 10 live birth event limit as even that can be potentiall15 or 20 children from one donor, so I have reservations about the increase.

Equally, I am also concerned about how clinics will use the new increase, when you chose a donor, you get a brief 'resume', I have always made friends in the waiting room and inevitably you do share details of your treatment, I am not sure how I would feel if I sat next to someone and they were also using donor sperm and they divulged their donors resume, what is was the same or remotely similar, I would wonder whether indeed it was the same donor?

The real issue has been the HFEA's decision in 2005 to lose annonimity for donors, both egg and sperm donors, this has had a detrimental effect on the number of donors coming forward, although I do agree it was the right thing to do. I donated eggs on a sharing programme and I am quite aware of the implications but many people believe someone will knock on their door 18 years later and say 'Hi Mum/Dad', but this isn't the case and the HFEA in the first instance should be doing more to educate potential donors and alleviate the concerns they currently have.

I just wondered if there was anyone else on the board here who has had a child from donated eggs or sperm or are considering donating?

Love BlueDiva 14+5

Hi bluediva
Congratulations on your pregnancy. I co cl on unplanned pregnancy and my df and I have been sat talking about this today. I'm seriously considering becoming a tummymummy for a close friend. Anyway.... Df has just asked if by being a SD, no longer protected by anonymity, could he then be held financially responsible for any children born of the donation?! Does that make sense??
Hugs

Hiya

No, your DF could not be held financially accountable for children born as a result of his donation, this is one myth that seems never to go away and the HFEA have done little to quell this either.

The annonimity issue hasn't really been, in my opinion, adequately addressed by the HFEA and indeed out clinic had staff who knew very little about the legislation, but this is from the HFEA website and should clarify the annonimity issues:

What if I donated after April 2005?
If you donated from April 2005 onwards, the clinic will have explained that identifying information about you can be given to people conceived from your donation when they reach the age of 18.  In most cases, this will be from 2023 onwards (unless you decide to re-register as an identifiable donor -see below).

A donor-conceived person can ask for the following identifying information about you, as well as the non-identifying information you will also have given:

• The donor's name (and their name at birth, if different )
• Date and place of donor's birth
• Last known address (or their address recorded at the time of registration)

The non identifing information is information such as eye colour, hair colour, height, interests etc.

The HFEA will only release the information held on the register to the child conceived of the donation (not parents, aunties, uncles etc) at the age of 18 or 16 if contemplating marriage or starting a family. At the moment there seems to be discrepencies between clinics and the HFEA about whether the HFEA will contact the donor and say a child born of your donation is looking for you or whether the information will be released to the child. I've had 2 or 3 different answer from each clinic we have enquired with and there isn't a definative answer on the HFEA website.

If your DF is interested in sperm donation, which is a fantastic gift and too often thought of as a commodity (which it isn't) he and you might be interested in the information provided by this clinic LWC, the biggest sperm bank in the UK http://www.lwclinic.co.uk/gen/sperm_donor.php which gives a really good overview for potential donors. We used them in the end and they were great.

If you both decide to go ahead, you will be able to use the HFEA website to find a clinic near to you which is a sperm donation clinic as not all clinics offer this service.

I also admire you greatly for thinking of being a tummy mummy, it isn't something I know very much about other than there is a great deal of need for generous and kind people like you both. As with your DF's consideration to sperm donation, it is important for you to get all the info you need before you make any decisions.

BD 15+ 2 xx