Trends in Donor Insemination
Over the past three decades, the donor insemination industry has changed dramatically. One of the biggest changes is the demographics of the people seeking DI services to build their families.
Historically, DI was used by heterosexual couples to overcome a male partner's infertility. This has slowly shifted in the last two decades towards more Choice Moms and lesbian couples. A recent survey of sperm banks conducted by the American Association of Tissue Banks indicated that more than 60 percent of women seeking DI are either Choice Moms or in lesbian relationships.
The Sperm Bank of California began as part of a feminist health center in 1982. At that time U.S. sperm banks would only serve women who were married. TSBC began specifically to respond to this discrimination and we have provided services to single women and lesbians for 25 years. (As the only non-profit sperm bank we also conduct research on the psycho-social outcomes of donor insemination. To learn more about our research program or read our published articles, go to our website thespermbankofca.org/research.html.)
One way in which single women and lesbian couples are similar is that virtually all Choice Moms tell their children how they were conceived. This differs substantially from heterosexual couples who tend still to keep this information a secret. Even among TSBC families, where there is a lot of support for those choosing to be open, only 50 percent of heterosexual couples disclose to their children.
Another way that Choice Moms are unique is that they are more interested than other parents in making connections with families who used the same donor. At TSBC, single women are over-represented on our Family Contact List, heterosexual couples are under-represented, and lesbian couples have the same representation as they have among our families as whole. It makes sense that Choice Moms would be the most interested in making contact since by definition they have fewer relatives for their children and do not have a non-biological co-parent who might find such contact threatening.
Several years ago, TSBC conducted a needs assessment in preparation for our first release of donor identifying information through our Identity-Release(R) Program. Our interviews with offspring identified another area in which single-mom families differed from those with coupled parents. Youth with coupled parents responded that knowing they were conceived though DI had a neutral impact on their relationship with their parents. However, youth in Choice Mom families said that knowing how they were conceived had a positive impact on their relationship with their mom. This is important information for moms who are unsure about how their choice will impact their children. (Scheib, J.E., Riordan, M. & Rubin, S. (2005). Adolescents with open-identity sperm donors: Reports from 12-17 year olds. Human Reproduction, 20, 239-252)
