A man donates his sperm so that a baby can be produced and is a something men have been doing for years, usually for a fee but occasionally as a charitable act. As reproductive medical treatments go it is one of the simplest but dates back over fifty years. Sperm donation is used when another male has a non-existent sperm count and nowadays is an excepted form of treatment to aid conception.
As male infertility rates rise so does the use of sperm donation as a method to treat childless couples but it is not always successful at the first attempt and often many treatments are required for a successful conception. During recent years it has also become more commonplace for single women without a partner to use sperm donation as a method to become mothers. Sperm donation is, for many couples, the only natural way they will experience the pleasure of parenthood.
Sometimes a family member may help but if there is a genetic illness then outside sperm donation will have to be resorted to. Many women want to feel the child grow inside them and know it as their own so do not look at adoption and are happy to have sperm donation. There are selected groups of patients to whom sperm donation is recommended and it is routinely offered to young men undergoing chemotherapy for hematological malignancies or germ-cell tumors.
No longer just a medical matter, sperm donation is now related to the law and ethics and no doubt will become more complicated. Many young men now use sperm donation as a method of raising money as the market for specimens is a lucrative one and at 0 a time, far more than donating blood. The fertility industry has grown massively on the back of egg and sperm donation, caused by rising infertility rates. Unlike sperm donation, which is a relatively quick and simple process, egg donation may require a series of injections. Sperm insemination uses ejaculated sperm that is washed and then inserted in the uterus or in vitro.
There are currently no international laws relating to sperm, egg or embryo donation or for the anonymity of the donors themselves as each country decides on how it will deal with the subject. It is a situation that in the long term will need better clarification because if adoption becomes harder or more costly and sperm/egg donation is unavailable, the population rate will start to decrease.