Blog

Blog written by Fairfax Cryobank Laboratory Director, Michelle Ottey, PhD.

When faced with the decision of how to build your family when there is medical or social infertility involved, you have several options: adoption, egg donation, sperm donation, gestational carriers, or surrogacy.

Many people choose donor insemination (DI) over the other options to build their family because it is the right choice for them.  Some have cited the following as why they chose to move forward with DI:

• Donor selection can be made with the participation of your husband, wife, partner or you’re your family and friends.
• The recipient can experience pregnancy and all the excitement, anticipation and bonding derived from carrying and delivering her child.
• By attending the inseminations, the husband, wife or partner can share in the child’s conception.
• DI is a relatively simple and usually painless procedure performed in your physician’s office that requires no surgery or hospital stay.
• The use of donor sperm to achieve pregnancy has generally become very well accepted.
• Most receive support from their family and friends when they choose to disclose that they have used DI to have a child.
• The treatment is confidential.
• You decide who knows that you are using donor sperm.
• The contract the sperm donor has with their sperm bank should ensure against any legal, material, or emotional claim by the donor on you or your child.
• The donor selection process offers choices that match physical, personal and ethnic traits of a partner, if desired.
• Extensive review of a donor’s medical history and testing for infectious and common genetic diseases add a level of safety to the process.
• Updated medical information on the donor is available from some sperm banks.
• In general, DI is less costly than other options, e.g., adoption or IVF (in vitro fertilization).