What is a known sperm donor?
A known sperm donor is a friend or someone you have met on a sperm donor website who is willing to donate his sperm to help you become pregnant. Traditionally sperm donation has taken place through a sperm bank which means the sperm donor himself will be anonymous until the child reaches 18 years of age. With the introduction of online sperm donor matching websites the opportunity to take your known sperm donor to a fertility clinic is becoming increasingly popular.
A Friend or an Online Match
A known sperm donor can be a friend or someone you meet on a site such as co-parentmatch.com. Your donor can then either simply be known to the child by names, photo’s etc… or they can have an involvement in the child’s upbringing depending on what is agreed between both parties.
Many women may wish to use a known sperm donor such as someone they are friends with or a donor found through a sperm donor website. Using a known donor has many advantages, such as the ability to understand more about the donor’s personality. Women may also choose to use a known donor as they wish for them to be involved in the child’s life, maybe like an ‘uncle type’ figure in their lives, without having full parental responsibility.
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Where can I find a known sperm donor?
Many women will choose a sperm donor that they know through friendship, work or extended family however where this is not possible single woman, lesbian partners or married couples can choose to get to know a donor through introductory websites like Co-ParentMatch.com
A friend: If you are lucky enough to have a good friend who is willing to donate his sperm to you this is a great option to start a family.
A colleague: Some women have work colleagues whom they know very well and are comfortable enough to ask for sperm donation. Make sure you are 100% clear how much you can trust your colleague as this option could affect your working life.
A Relative: Many women choose to ask a member of their extended family who is not related by blood. For example both lesbian and heterosexual couples may ask a male member of their partner’s family to donate sperm.
A Co-ParentMatch.com Member: Co-ParentMatch.com will match you with a donor who is willing to be known to a child born as a result of his donation. You can meet your donor face to face and get to know him over a period of time before you agree on insemination.
What are the Legal Facts for Known Sperm Donors?
As a sperm donor you can choose to conceive either through a licensed fertility clinic, by home insemination or natural insemination. The laws around parental rights and responsibilities are very different depending on which of these options you choose so make sure you consider your options carefully.
3 Simple Legal Facts if you are Thinking about Becoming a Sperm Donor:
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If you donate your sperm through a fertility clinic you will not be classed as the child’s legal father and will not have parental responsibility.
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If you donate to a single woman via home insemination you are very likely to have legal parental responsibility to the child. The woman who is carrying the baby can choose either the sperm donor or the partner to be named on the birth certificate.
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If you donate to a married couple (lesbian or heterosexual) via home insemination there is a chance that you could have legal parental responsibility to the child. However in most cases if the woman who is giving birth is married the couple are automatically protected and the partner will be legally classed as a parent.
Related Pages
Complete Guide to Sperm Donation