A new app allows women to browse potential sperm donors by ethnicity, skin tone, height, weight and eye and hair colour... using only a mobile phone.
The first app of its kind is the brainchild of London Sperm Bank Donors and allows customers to order donor sperm (at a cost of £950, or €1,093 per order) to be delivered to a local fertility clinic of their choice.
Those who download the app even receive an alert every time a new donor matching their requirements becomes available.
London Sperm Bank Donors say that all their registered donors are HFEA registered and
undertake rigorous screening checks, guaranteeing healthy sperm. In fact, the company's website claims that only five per cent of the men who apply to donate sperm are accepted.
Donors are not paid and can only claim expenses up to a limit of £35 each time they donate.
Regulations on anonymity introduced in 2005 now mean that all children conceived as a result of sperm donation have the right at the age of 18 to identifying information about the donor (full name, last known address, date of birth). Donors must provide this information to the HFEA (via the clinic) at the time of the donation.
The London Sperm Bank (LSB) says it was established to address the acute shortage of donated sperm:
'With support from a wide range of altruistic men, we are proud that we are now the largest provider of donor sperm in the UK.' says a statement on its website.
However, not everyone believes that the service is a good idea. Josephine Quintavalle, from the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, told
The Times:
"How much further can we go in the trivialisation of parenthood? This is reproduction via the mobile phone. It's digital dads. Choose Daddy. This is the ultimate denigration of fatherhood."
What do you think: does ordering sperm online trivialise parenthood? Let us know in Twitter @HerFamilydotie.
