Before I really get going, let's establish one fact. There are not enough sperm donors in the UK. It's a bad situation, but it's not going to get sorted out by moaning.
This Times article is led by moans from the clinics- again. Every time there's a story like this reporting the shortage, up pipes some fertility doctor, wringing his hands. "It is harder to either recruit sperm at your own centre or to obtain sperm from centres that are more effective in recruiting," he says.
Exactly how are these moaning clinics recruiting sperm donors? I see the odd advert in the local newspaper, a little ad on the clinic's website, but not much else. And I do wonder how welcoming some clinics are when men do come forward...
When you read the stories posted on Fertility Friends about DI, some women are told that their clinic has a good supply of donors, others have a small waiting list and others (too many) have to wait ages.
How come some clinics seem to be doing better than others? It seems like some (most?) clinics are too busy getting in the money from cash strapped and desperate patients rather than encouraging men to donate.
Perhaps they got into the habit of expecting donors to roll up to their door - no advertising required - when donation was the preserve of students looking for some reddies for the student bar!
Pip Morris from the National Gamete Donation Trust is quoted in the Times article saying, "We’ve never had enough donors. It’s nothing to do with the law, it’s a lack of awareness.”
Who's raising that awareness?
The only national recruitment campaign (of sorts) is run by her organisation, the NGDT, a charity whose main donor (of a different type) is the Department of Health through a grant. NGDT's TOTAL income last year was just over £77k.
When you read how much some fertility doctors earn, it's appalling that the NGDT received more in bank interest than it did in donations. With a DI cycle at around £770 and full IVF costing several arms and legs a go, why are they running their campaign on a shoestring?
The NGDT website has a list of 37 clinics that recruit donors. But 67 clinics are listed as treating using donor sperm. Er - where do those extra 30 clinics get their donations from if they're not bothering to recruit? Are they just relying on the vikings?
So, no-one is effectively recruiting. And there is no national database of donors so that the sperm that is donated can be shared.
So what is the solution?
Changing the law on anonymity is not going to happen, however often doctors and some patients behave like Rumplestiltskin. It's totally unfair on the children who are born. They - the children - are the reason why so many people go through the madness of fertility treatment, after all, and their needs really should be the top priority.
The clinics, the HFEA and charities like NGDT and Infertility Network UK have to get together to put some REAL effort into it. They've managed to do it for multiple births (though we'll have to see how effective that is), so why not do the same for the REALLY URGENT issue of sperm donor recruitment.
And here's the cherry on the top.
The Bridge Centre clinic has issued a statement which says, "The shortage of donor gametes comes down to simple economics - it's all about money."
They say, "If we were able to compensate sperm donors fairly - at the rate of about £50 per donation instead of the current £17.50 reimbursement of expenses, there would be no shortage and the quality of the sperm available would be higher."
But it's this bit that made me laugh: "We hear many highminded opinions about the need for altruistic donation - coming from people who are well paid in terms of their time and expenses and, it seems, indifferent to the consequences of their highmindedness."
Get hold of your chequebook, Dr Well-paid. Get on and do something about it.
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The Times article that sparked this post
Times London - Childless couples denied as anonymity loss scares egg and sperm donors
Non-UK posts and some UK posters on this Times piece have just managed to make the situation even more confusing for everyone concerned with sperm donation, particularly potential donors and their legal financial status. As if it's not difficult enough already!!! Here's what the HFEA says the law is. As annoying as the HFEA might be, they should know about it better than most.
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