Excess: Sperm Donor = 150 Kids

No one knows for sure how many children are born through donor insemination each year in the U.S., but estimates are at 30,000-60,000. We have even less information on how many of those are genetically related.

A social worker in Washington who used a sperm donor has learned that the same donor fathered 150 offspring. And sometimes they all get together. They just hope that none of their children fall in love with each other.

In addition to the risk of marrying a half-sibling, there’s the possibility that rare genetic diseases could spread more widely.

It’s all about the money. Clinics and sperm banks earn huge profits by refusing to “retire” their most popular donors. Debora L. Spar, president of Barnard College and author of The Baby Business: How Money, Science and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception, said, “We have more rules that go into place when you buy a used car than when you buy sperm.”

Other countries are ahead of the U.S. in regulation. Britain, Sweden and France all limit the number of children a donor can father. Though the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommends limiting donors to 25 births per 800,000, there are no legal limits on the books.

A Texas sperm donor reports that at the time of donation when he asked how many children he might potentially father, he was told that five would be a safe estimate. Later he discovered through the Donor Sibling Registry that he had fathered dozens—a finding he found reprehensible. Another donor using the site was promised a low number but later discovered he had fathered 70 children. He now keeps track of them all on an Excel spreadsheet.

Concerned that their children will become stigmatized if their genetic parentage is known, many families have kept quiet about the need for regulation, despite growing concerns.

What will it mean to children when they discover they have fifty or more half-siblings?

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