Sperm Wars: program one
Sunday 6 March 2005
Summary
Whatever you call it – spoof, cum, jizz, spunk – sperm is no longer just
something you wash off your sheets. It’s become a commodity, and in the Western
world it’s in short supply. Sperm banks are running dry and sperm donors are
running scared.
It used to be that young men donated sperm with abandon. But these days men are
increasingly anxious about finding themselves emotionally or financially
responsible for a child they never intended to parent.
So how do you find sperm if you don’t have a willing partner? Who gets to have
it and how much it costs depends on who you are and where you live around the
world.
Australia has been a microcosm of ethical dilemmas around sperm. Bitter battles
have been waged over whether lesbians and single women should have access to
sperm, and whether donor conceived children and donors should have access to
each other. Governments and public opinion are increasingly wary of anonymous
sperm donation and the result is that it’s often difficult to get your hands on
sperm, so much so that even politicians have been asked to donate in an attempt
to stock up the banks.
Denmark, by contrast, is supplying women from Stockholm to Seattle with
anonymous donor sperm. It’s holding out against moves in other European
countries to ensure sperm donors can be traced by their offspring. One clinic
exports to 40 countries around the world. It’s possible to choose and order
sperm and have it shipped to your doctor with the click of a mouse.
Meanwhile in India, sperm banks are springing up in response to a growing local
and international demand for Asian sperm. The parliament is currently debating
whether to start regulating this burgeoning new industry.
Despite this commercialisation of sperm, and the efforts of regulators to have
at least some minimum standards for donor insemination, many thousands of people
around the world are making their own arrangements. Through websites like Sperm
Donors Worldwide anyone anywhere in the world can find a donor or willing
recipient of their sperm. It’s an ethical and legal minefield, and it’s set to
change our ideas of fatherhood forever.