The Spanish Fertility Society has warned this on repeated occasions, but far from being reduced, the sale and purchase of semen to individuals through social networks has increased, according to IVI. An illegal practice that can dangerously affect women who risk obtaining a sample to later inseminate themselves or with the help of someone close to them.
“The absence of a protocol and medical control in centers approved by Health can have consequences for the mother, the fetus or the future baby. There is a risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or that at a genetic level the baby is born with hereditary diseases or even malformations,” says Antonio Requena, general medical director of IVI.
These women do it at home with kits purchased at the pharmacy, without any type of health control. “Hygienic-sanitary conditions that have nothing to do with insemination carried out in sterilized medical facilities and that minimize the risks of infection and possible complications. We must also consider the low pregnancy rates by insemination achieved with this method, which leads to sometimes to frustration and abandonment by the woman of any type of treatment, therefore preventing the desired pregnancy,” says Requena. According to the SEF, home inseminations only work in 1 in 20 cases.
In chats, social networks or classified ads portals it is not unusual to find messages of the type “blond, tall and with blue eyes and without any health problems”, men who offer to sell their sperm to women who wish to become mothers, The most frequent profile being future single mothers by choice or female couples.
But focusing only on physical features is a major mistake. Because the most important thing is the clinical features, something that is done in fertility centers, where in addition to carrying out a medical study of the donor to rule out potential family hereditary diseases, a study of their karyotype is done to detect chromosomal alterations. Studies of sexually transmitted diseases are also carried out to avoid a potential risk of infection for the woman who will be inseminated, as well as a genetic study in which it is ruled out that the donor is a carrier of a group of genetic diseases.
In Spain it is not allowed to choose a donor and they always have to be anonymous by law, only general characteristics of the donor can be discussed to safeguard their identity. Without forgetting that a psychological filter is also carried out that guarantees that that person is suitable to donate and that they have no history in terms of mental health.
In addition to anonymity, the guarantee of traceability is also lost, and there may be cases such as the donor from Holland who sold semen samples to 500 women. No one can know for sure how many children a donor who comes from the networks has been able to father.
