Is Donor Insemination Right for You?
Although exact numbers are hard to come by due to variances in pregnancy reporting, estimates indicate that approximately 30,000 to 50,000 children are conceived through donor insemination every year in the United States. Women who choose donor insemination (DI) usually fall into two categories: either their partner is incapable of fathering a child, usually due to either infertility or genetic disease, or they do not have a male partner.
Donor insemination provides a relatively uncomplicated and affordable means for couples and single women, who would not otherwise be able to conceive, to have children. Since the 1980's, donor insemination has climbed in popularity for couples and it is now estimated that 1 in 8 infertile couples turn to donor insemination in order to conceive. For women who are single or in a same-sex relationship, DI has likewise become an increasingly common means of having a child. In her book, Helping the Stork, Carol Frost Vercollone notes that single women have contributed to the advancement of donor insemination policies. She writes that "lesbian couples were among the first to question DI (donor insemination) practices offering little or no donor information and to request that banks set up identity-release options for donors willing to someday be contacted by adult children."
For those who choose donor insemination, sperm banks such as the European Sperm Bank USA, now offer a vast amount of information about their donors. Sperm donors may be completely anonymous, or they may be Open ID donors, who generally agree to contact from any donor-conceived child after the child turns 18. As family law expert Julie Shapiro from Seattle University School of Law notes, legal and social issues surrounding donor-conceived children are still evolving. However, sperm banks act as an intermediary between the sperm donor and the recipient, which helps ensure the recipient receives the information she needs about the donor and simplifies some of the issues that may arise when using a sperm donor.
How Donor Insemination Works
After a woman chooses to undergo DI, her fertility cycle is closely monitored to determine the optimum time for insemination. Frequently, insemination will be performed twice in a single cycle, in order to increases the chances of a pregnancy. In addition, women may also take ovulation-stimulating drugs, although the probability of multiple births increases slightly with this treatment.
The most common insemination techniques are intracervical insemination (ICI) and intrauterine insemination (IUI), both of which are generally performed by a medical practitioner. During ICI, a needleless syringe is used to deposit the sperm sample directly at the opening of the cervix. The pregnancy rate during a single menstrual cycle using ICI is typically 10-15%.
In IUI, the sperm sample is injected directly into the woman's uterus. For this type of insemination, the sperm sample must be washed, meaning that the sperm has been separated from the contents of the ejaculate. The pregnancy rate during a single menstrual cycle using IUI is typically 15-20%. Once a pregnancy has been achieved using insemination, it is medically no different from a natural pregnancy.
European Sperm Bank USA, located in Seattle, Washington, was established to provide couples and individuals with the donor choices they need to make dreams of conception, pregnancy and childbirth a reality. European Sperm Bank USA is affiliated with Denmark-based European Sperm Bank, and are leading the way for sperm banks in Europe.
