TV company wants to hear from sperm donors and recipients, can you help?

Seneca Productions is a television production company based in London, UK. We specialise in high-end documentaries, the most recent of which was All In The Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry. We're developing an observational documentary on private sperm donation, in which we'll follow donors and recipients through their experiences, while getting insight into the community and its motivations. We want to speak to as many British donors and recipients as possible. We'd like to have a telephone conversation with those who reach out to us, rather than send out a standard questionnaire. Individuals can be as open or anonymous as they like during this informal chat. Do you have something to say about sperm donation? Do you have an interesting story to tell? If so, get in touch. We want to tell people's story as it is. If anyone wishes to know more about the type of programmes we make please take a look at our recent Channel 4 documentary, 'All in the best possible taste with Grayson Perry' “A fabulous work of television.” (The Guardian) “A terrific series.” ***** (The Times). Available on 4oD. You can contact Pride Angel for more information, or email Marcus direct - marcusplowright@senecaproductions.com or give Marcus a call on +44 (0)20 7324 6079. Many thanks for all your help. Article: 22nd February 2012 Seneca Productions

Lesbian to sue government over right to choose her own sperm donor

A woman who wants a baby with her lesbian partner through artificial insemination is suing the government for the right to choose how she will get the sperm. The unidentified woman from California is taking on the Food and Drug Administration, which sets the standards for sperm banks. In a lawsuit, the woman argues she does not want to use a sperm bank as she wants to use the sperm of someone she knows, for free, without having to follow the government's regulations. The FDA sets standards for artificial insemination at sperm banks, such as testing sperm for sexually transmitted diseases. But the woman say the rules are an unconstitutional violation of her rights, as she should be able to start a family with whomever she wishes. 'When you are regulating private decisions between two individuals in a non-commercial context that have to do with something so intimate and personal as whether they want to have a child together, then the FDA regulations should not apply,' her lawyer Amber Abbasi told Fox News Abassi said the woman is in a relationship with another woman and wants a child, but does not want to go to a sperm bank as she wants to know the father. She also wants the child to have a relationship with the father and is concerned about the cost of using a sperm bank. The suit adds she 'does not want to be forced to engage in sexual intercourse with a male partner to conceive a child, even though such a male partner would not be subject to FDA-required screening and testing and other FDA-mandated donor-eligibility requirements'. The FDA rules come from a 1944 law passed by Congress instilling the regulations to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. The rules were later applied to sperm banks and donors in order to prevent infections. One donor in California is under investigation by the FDA for donating sperm privately, at no cost. Trent Arsenault, 36, has reportedly made 328 semen donations to 46 couples, fathering at least 14 children. His website includes details of his recent tests for sexually transmitted diseases, as well as other health information. 'It is helping people in need,' he told CBS. 'I don't make any money. I don't charge people anything. It's just helping childless couples have children.' Article: 5th July 2012 www.dailymail.co.uk

Donating sperm - Why do men choose to donate?

It takes just minutes, but the emotional consequences of donating sperm can last for years. So what makes men do it? By Alice-Azania Jarvis, The Independent.
Sperm is a hot commodity in 21st-century Britain. Women will travel miles to find it and pay thousands to access it. Obtaining a donation from the European Sperm Bank – which is to say pursuing the standard, NHS-endorsed option of licensed donation – can cost upwards of £2,500. That's before diagnostic testing, treatment costs, and "pregnancy slot" bookings are taken into account. That's £2,500 for three, thumb-sized vials of frozen semen – and it might not be enough.

Treatment could be unsuccessful, at least the first time around. It might be a one-off, or it might a recurring problem. It might not even be possible to buy a donation. Demand for those frozen vials dwarfs availability, and the result is a system in which eligibility is strictly regulated.

Mark Jackson first learned of the sperm shortage six years ago. Sitting at his computer, reading news of the Boxing Day tsunami, he was made aware of his own mortality. “I realised that you could be wiped off the earth without having left any impact,” he reflects. “My eye was caught by a ticker running across the screen. It said that there was a shortage of gamete donations. I didn’t even know what that was, but I clicked on the link. I realised that maybe I could make a difference after all.”

Since then, his sperm has been used to “help” two families and Jackson has become a trustee of the National Gamete Donation Trust (NGDT). He is one of almost 500 registered donors in the UK, sharing his sperm via the 138 licensed clinics around the country. In 2005, when British law changed to allow donors’ offspring to learn, on turning 18, the identity of their father, that number was widely predicted to drop off. Suddenly, the prospect was raised of biological sons or daughters rocking up on donors’ doorsteps. It’s a scenario soon to be played out on the big screen, thanks to US comedy The Kids Are All Right, and it would be enough – sceptics reasoned – to turn many men off their trips to the fertility clinic.

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