How do you find donor sperm and pick the right donor? Should you use an anonymous sperm donor? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit, interviews Suzanne Seitz, a certified genetic counselor that has worked for in the fertility field for over 20 years. She has been with Fairfax Cryobank for more than 10 years.
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Hit the Highlights
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- Who are the primary people that you see using sperm donation, and how has it changed in the last decade?
- What options do people have when choosing donor sperm?
- What issues should you consider when deciding on whether to use a known donor?
- In general, what type of testing are sperm donors put through before they can donate to a sperm bank?
- Is it possible to make sure that you can go back and use the same sperm donor for a second child?
- How long can sperm remain viable in a frozen state?
- Diversity of donors. How hard is it to find minority and mixed race donors?
- Who is the typical sperm donor?
- What type of genetic testing is routinely done?
- Availability of pictures. From what age are pictures usually available: baby, childhood, adult?
- Will I know in advance how many times the donor has donated or plans to donate, and how many pregnancies have resulted? How many times are they allowed to donate?
- Is it possible to select a donor based on IQ or SAT scores?
- What are the characteristics that people choosing a sperm donor are primarily interested in? I think most people assume it is looks or IQ.
- Are people primarily trying to match a donor to their partner if they have one? A movie star? Themselves?
- How specific can people be when choosing a donor? We’ve certainly heard race, but also religion, specific athletic ability (such as swimming or tennis), and more?
- How do people decide? Create a checklist, gut feel, etc.
- What of the things you provide such as pictures, essays, interests, etc. do people find most helpful when choosing?
- For single women: who usually helps with the selection process, or do most do it by themselves?
- Home insemination vs. artificial insemination by a doctor.
- Ability to contact in the future: how popular is the option of choosing a donor with the ability to have identifying info when the child is 18?
