Anonymous sperm donor ban to extend couples' wait for treatment

Published on Saturday 1 April 2006 01:27

CHILDLESS couples face longer waits for fertility treatment, doctors warned yesterday, as a total ban on anonymously donated sperm comes in.

Last year, new regulations were introduced giving children the right to find out the identity of their natural fathers if the sperm was donated after April 2005, resulting in a drastic reduction of donors.

Clinics turned to sperm donated before April 2005 and sperm donated from overseas to fill the gap. But that loophole is to be closed today.

Scotland's five fertility clinics are already struggling to find enough donors, with one considering placing adverts in local newspapers.

Experts said clinics may have to look to importing from new countries where sperm donors are identified, such as the United States.

Dr Charles Swainson, medical director of NHS Lothian, said the new laws would affect supplies at the Edinburgh Fertility and Reproductive Endocrine Centre.

"The shortage of donors is a national issue and we expect this will be exacerbated by this change in the rules on donor anonymity. We have been using our own stocks of anonymised sperm, but that will no longer be an option under the new rules."

At the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, it is not possible to donate sperm and so the unit relies on outside sources. Until recently, sperm was imported from Europe's largest sperm bank in Denmark, where donors are anonymous. The unit has now switched to three clinics in London, where supplies are said to be low.

Alison McTavish, nurse manager at the Assisted Reproduction Unit at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, said supplies have never been lower.

"We are telling patients who require donor insemination they may have to wait some time. It is very poor that couples are having to suffer because of this change in legislation."

Ms McTavish said there needed to be more publicity to encourage sperm donors to come forward.

Anne McConnell, business manager at the Assisted Conception Unit at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee has waiting lists of more than 35 couples for donor insemination. "There is a shortage and this will be worse after April," she said.

Alison Kennedy, nurse manager at the only private clinic in Scotland, the Nuffield Hospital in Glasgow, said the problem was not restricted to the private sector.

"We are experiencing a shortage and we are not alone. Every clinic in the country has a problem."

Pip Morris, of the National Gametes Donation Trust, admitted there is a problem for infertile couples in the UK and called on more men to come forward and "give the gift of life".

However, she pointed out the new legislation will protect children and donors.

Under the new law, people conceived as a result of donations will have access to information about the donor at age 18, although the donor will have no financial responsibility.