Multiple sperm banks reported to police over donor limits

Single mother Sascha Didde Tarne says she is deeply concerned after several sperm banks were reported to police over the alleged overselling of donor sperm, DR reports. She fears her seven-year-old son may have far more half-siblings than she knows.

DR reported that European Sperm Bank had been reported to police for overselling sperm from 81 donors. The donors are the genetic fathers of children in up to 30 families, while Danish law sets a limit of 12 families per donor.

Health Minister Ida Auken told DR that more than one sperm bank had been reported to police. She declined to say which other banks were involved or why they had been reported.

For Tarne, the news was alarming.

“It is deeply concerning. But I am not particularly surprised. If something is wrong in one place, it is usually wrong in several places,” she said. She added that the sector felt like the Wild West and needed an authority to step in and say stop.

Tarne became a mother with the help of a donor and European Sperm Bank. She said she was grateful that donors existed, but worried that recent events could scare them away.

She fears the consequences for her son if he has more siblings than expected. When he was born, she asked the sperm bank how many other children had been conceived using the same donor. She was told only that there were other children. European Sperm Bank says it cannot disclose the number because it constitutes the donor’s personal information. Denmark’s data protection authority has not yet taken a position on the issue, according to DR.

Over the past year, DR has investigated the donor sector, including the case of donor 7069, who is the genetic father of at least 210 children in several countries. The donor is a healthy carrier of a genetic error that significantly increases the risk of cancer.

European Sperm Bank said it understood the concern and uncertainty the case could create for donors, families and donor-conceived children. The company said systems across the fertility sector had historically not been sufficiently robust, while awareness of the challenges associated with many genetic relationships had increased.

The bank said the limit on the number of families allowed to use the same donor had not been exceeded during the past five years. Before the legal limit of 12 women in Denmark was introduced, a recommendation had limited donors to a maximum of 25 children. European Sperm Bank also breached that recommendation in 105 cases.

Tarne hopes the donor used for her son was not sold to more than the 12 permitted families, but fears that may not be the case. Knowing the number of children would give her son certainty when he is old enough to understand, she said.

Her greatest concern is that he could one day fall in love with someone who has the same donor father without either of them knowing.

“I am worried about inbreeding. I am worried that this will have a very damaging effect on my son’s life, and that is exactly what I wanted to avoid,” she said.