The donor you know might be a friend, a relative of your partner or an acquaintance who has agreed to donate sperm.
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Why women use known donor sperm
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Women who choose their donor do so for all kinds of reasons. They may feel more comfortable with a personal knowledge of the donor, or they may wish their child to have the option of accessing the donor at some time in the future, or for the donor to share some parenting responsibility. Some women will prefer to have an insemination that is more private and less medical.
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Other women choose a known donor and self-insemination because they cannot access a fertility clinic in Victoria, or cannot afford the expense involved in travelling to an interstate clinic. Each clinical insemination can cost up to $1000 with the added costs of travel and time off work.
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Unfortunately there are no formal networks that help women to find willing donors. Women must rely on informal networks or word of mouth if they are unable to find someone through their existing social networks.
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Deciding your method of insemination
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Once you have identified your donor, you will need to decide the insemination procedure that is best for you.
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Your options are:
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- insemination at an interstate clinic
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- IVF in Victoria if you are 'medically infertile'
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Insemination at an interstate clinic with known donor sperm
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Some women may prefer to have their donor's sperm frozen at a clinic, which they can then use to be inseminated at the clinic.
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It is a requirement of all clinics to keep the sperm in quarantine for six months after which the sperm donor has another blood test. If the donor remains negative for any transmissible infection, the sperm can then be used for insemination.
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This quarantine period can be waived in the ACT where known donor sperm is donated for a particular woman or couple.
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A clinic can inseminate in one of two ways. The first involves inserting the sperm onto the cervix. This method is more comfortable. The second is to insert the sperm through the cervix. Although this method is more invasive, it tends to have a slightly higher success rate.
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IVF
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In Victoria, if a woman is found to be 'medically infertile' she is usually referred for IVF treatment. Known donor sperm can be used for IVF treatment.
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If you use your donor's sperm in a clinic for either insemination or IVF (in Victoria or interstate) the donor effectively relinquishes all rights as a parent'. This means that he is officially a donor' and has no rights or responsibilities as a parent unless he goes to the Family Court to seek a Parenting Order. (For an explanation of these issues, see Parenting Orders.)
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Self-insemination
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It is quite safe to for you to self-inseminate as long as you take precautions to protect yourself and the health of a potential baby. Whatever your relationship with the donor, it is important to be very well prepared for the legal and health implications of the arrangement that you are about to make.
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Inseminationa at home
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Sperm collection
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If you choose to self-inseminate, it is very important for you to consider the list of health checks that are provided further on in this booklet (see Known Donor Testing below).
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The ideal situation for self-insemination is to have the donor produce the sperm using masturbation, and then inseminate at the same location, so there is a minimal time delay between ejaculation and insemination.
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However, insemination cannot be done immediately after ejaculation as the semen congeals for a few minutes, then once again becomes more liquid.
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Quite soon after ejaculation, sperm becomes less motile'. This means that the sperm slows down and is therefore less likely to travel through the cervix. Semen is at its best for up to 60 minutes, although it will remain viable for several hours. In the meantime, keep it warm by holding the container close to the body. The container used for collection does not have to be sterile, just clean and dry, as water can kill sperm.
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Sperm to vagina
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It doesn't really matter what you use to inseminate the sperm, although a syringe (without the needle) of 5ml capacity is the most convenient. This type of syringe is used to medicate children and can be bought from a chemist or provided by your GP. Semen donations range from 2-6ml each.
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It probably does help to be sexually aroused and to orgasm just before or after insemination, which opens the cervix slightly and encourages the sperm in the right direction. Lie flat, or with the hips slightly elevated on a pillow for up to 30 minutes after insemination.
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What the law says about self-insemination
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Self-insemination is not a breach of the law in Victoria.
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Victorian law says that a person who inseminates a woman outside a registered clinic commits a criminal offence with penalties of up to four years in prison (Section 7, Infertility Treatment Act 1995 (Vic)). So if a woman's partner inseminates her, then the partner commits a criminal offence. The woman who is inseminated does not, and is not liable for any criminal penalties.
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Some GPs may be reluctant to provide advice and testing to women or men involved in self-insemination because they believe that their advice may be prohibited. Legal advice is very clear that a health professional can provide any service to assist in safe and effective self-insemination. The only practice they are prohibited to do is the actual insemination. If a GP is reluctant to give you advice, you could inform them about that or you may prefer to find a better-informed GP.
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Known donor testing
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Health tests
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It is important for your own health and for that of your potential baby to make certain that the donor is free of any transmissible infections before insemination commences. All the following tests can be performed by a GP. There may be no charge if the GP bulk-bills the pathology test, or it may cost up to $150 for the full range of tests.
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The donor should be tested for the following:
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| |  | This can be done either by a penile swab or urine test two weeks after his last unsafe sexual contact.
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| | HIV, Hepatitis B, Syphilis
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| | This involves a blood test at least three months after the last unsafe sexual or blood-borne contact (such as IV drug use, occupational hazard). These infections have a window period of up to three months. This is the time between when a person is infected and when they are likely to show a positive result (antibodies in their blood). Sperm banks use a six-month re-testing period, as there have been rare cases of delayed development of antibodies up to six months after infection.
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| | | | A test can be done but it appears to be very unlikely that Hepatitis C can be transmitted via semen at insemination. Hepatitis C has a window period of three to six months.
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| | CMV (Cytomegalovirus) - optional
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| | This is a virus that causes a flu-like illness. It is usually transmitted as an air-borne virus (via coughs and/or sneezes), however it can also be transmitted via semen.
| CMV is a herpes virus, and can remain dormant in the body and occasionally become active (often with no symptoms), when it appears again in the semen. Up to 90% of gay men test positive for CMV antibody. By comparison, less than 20% of women test positive. That means that less than 20% of women are immune to the virus (very few lesbians are immune at all). A CMV positive donor will rarely be infectious, however if he is infectious at the time of insemination, and the woman is not immune (she is CMV negative), there is a small risk that the virus may infect the woman. If this occurs at the same time as a pregnancy, the virus will almost certainly infect the placenta and lead to serious abnormalities in the baby, very similar to rubella. At this stage there is no reliable way to test just the donor's semen. A blood test is also required.
| A woman who is negative and who has a CMV positive donor can be tested occasionally (every two months or so) during the period of insemination to confirm that she has not caught the virus.
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If all the infection test results are negative (all clear) and the donor has not practised any unsafe sex for at least three months prior to the tests, it is safe to commence insemination. It may take many months to become pregnant and so it is important that the donor should abstain from any unsafe practices including unprotected sex and the use of any shared intravenous equipment during this time.
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Donor fertility testing
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Before you begin it is useful to make sure that the donor is fertile. A test, called semenalysis', can be arranged by any GP. The donor will need to ejaculate into a jar and take the semen to a pathology laboratory within one hour of the donation. The semen will be tested immediately. It is best if the donor has not ejaculated for at least three days prior to being tested.
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Several things are tested including:
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- sperm count (normal 30-250 million/ml)
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- motility (how fast they move)
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- morphology (how many sperm look abnormal - 60-100% should look normal)
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- volume (the least important, varies from 3-6ml).
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Genetic issues, family history and donors
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Fertility clinics will screen the donor for serious genetic disorders. Some clinics will reject sperm if the donor or a close family member of the donor has a history of particular genetic disorders.
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Some clinics will accept sperm with some genetic disorders but will only offer it to women who are not carriers of the same condition.
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Genetic disorders include:
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You could ask your donor about his family history of these conditions.
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If there is a history of genetic disorders, it is worth discussing this with your GP to find out what this means for you and your prospective pregnancy.
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Striking a deal with your doctor
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If you are self-inseminating with a known donor, it is crucial that you and your donor understand that the arrangement you are entering into is complex and has ramifications that can affect your family for many years. It is too easy to avoid difficult conversations with your donor - to take the sperm and run. But the consequences of such actions can be disastrous both in terms of your health and wellbeing, and the legal relationship that both you and your donor will have with your child.
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This booklet covers a range of issues that you need to consider with regard to health and legal matters but it is very important that you feel comfortable enough to discuss these with your donor. If you feel awkward about having this sort of conversation with your donor, then it may be useful to include a third party, such as a mutual friend or health professional.
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It's also important to give your donor a realistic picture of the conception process and to let him know that it could take a long time. He needs to know that it's not likely to happen overnight and that his patience and commitment are crucial.
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If you are unsure about the level of commitment and co-operation from your donor, you may need to consider giving him and yourself some space to allow the information and your expectations to sink in. Maybe he needs an opportunity to find out more through his own counselling. If the situation continues to be difficult, you may need to consider whether you have found the right donor.
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Making a written agreement with your donor
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It is important that you do as much as you possibly can to reduce any potential conflict that may arise in the future between you and your donor. Although you cannot protect yourself and your family from every possible future problem, you can at least write down the things upon which you and your donor agree. And the time to do this is before conception.
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If you are in a relationship, then it is also a good idea for you both to write down the things that are important to you and the things that you would like for the future, so that in the event of any legal conflict, your intentions will be clear.
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It is very important to understand that any written agreement is not binding.
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Every Australian child, no matter who her or his parents are, has rights under The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
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The Act takes care of parenting issues such as:
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- who has day-to-day and long-term responsibility for the child
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- where the child will live
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- with whom the child will have contact.
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You cannot change these rights by making an agreement of your own.
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Even so, current legal advice is that you and the sperm donor and any other person who will be involved in parenting the child should develop a clear written agreement about parenting issues. Although these agreements are not legally binding, they do set down the intentions of all those involved at the beginning of the process and this can be relevant if there should be a legal conflict down the track.
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An agreement like this can also be helpful in prompting a discussion of relevant issues with your donor and revealing early on any deep-seated disagreements.
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The best way to develop the agreement is with the assistance of a lawyer - ideally a lawyer who understands family law and (even better) lesbian families.
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You, your partner and your donor should discuss all the things that are important to you both and you should then seek the advice of independent (i.e. separate) lawyers. This is important because if conflict should arise in the future, the same lawyer cannot represent you and your donor.
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It is important for you to remember though, that because the rights in this situation are those of the child and not the parent/s and donor, the Family Court may order contact between a child and a donor, against the wishes of the mothers and against the intentions expressed in any parenting agreement.
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Issues to consider within parenting agreements
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- Parenting roles and responsibilities of each person:
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| - day-to-day activities, social, religious, holidays
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- Naming of the child - first, middle and family names
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- Birth certificate - who will be named/not named
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- Inheritance provisions for the child, including superannuation, wills
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- Living arrangements - where the child will live, which state, the country each person will live in
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- Access arrangements - approximate time spent with the non-cohabiting person, including projected changes as the child grows
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- Involvement of the extended family of each person.
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(See also Pride and Joy online - The law in particular the sections on Birth Certificates, Passports and Parenting Orders.)
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Disclaimer
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The Royal Women’s Hospital does not accept any liability to any person for the information or advice (or use of such information or advice) which is provided in this booklet or incorporated into it by reference.
We provide this information on the understanding that all persons accessing it take responsibility for assessing its relevance and accuracy.
Women are encouraged to discuss their health needs with a health practitioner.
If you have concerns about your health, you should seek advice from your health care provider or if you require urgent care you should go to the nearest Emergency Dept.
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Published 2003, last updated May 2008
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