Choosing Donor Sperm

When you decide that third-party reproduction will provide the best chance for starting or building your family, you will have important decisions to make. Most couples or individuals that partner with Dr. Mark Rispler and Dr. Joshua J. Berger with Innovative Fertility Center choose donor sperm from a reputable sperm bank. We will gladly work with couples who prefer to use a known sperm donor.

As you begin a fertility treatment cycle with donor sperm, we will help you weigh the pros and cons for each option, and provide a list of reputable sperm banks to assist you in the process.

Choosing a Known Sperm Donor

You have the perfect sperm donor in mind. It may be a close friend, or Good Samaritan that offers to help you start or add to your family. This personal attachment can bring you comfort. Our task, as your fertility specialist and clinical care team, is to ensure that you have taken every precaution to ensure the best outcome.

Innovative Fertility Center suggests that you:

• Arrange for a reproductive lawyer for family building.
• Partner with a sperm bank to have your donor’s sperm screened, cryopreserved and quarantined.

Deciding on a Sperm Bank

Sperm banks are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and subject to stringent standards. Our team will remind you to ensure that the sperm bank you select adheres to the American Association of Tissue Bank guidelines.

The best sperm banks only accept a very small percentage of applicants who meet their stringent criteria. In fact, one leading sperm bank accepts only 1 percent of applicants as sperm donors.

These clinical and laboratory facilities specialize in:

• Screening sperm donor applicants for positive attributes attractive to potential parents (intelligence, talents, gifts, interests and appearance)
• Excluding applicants who abuse drugs or alcohol, have a history of mental illness, or exhibit negative behavioral traits
• Collecting semen specimens
• Testing sperm for sexually transmitted disease and infectious disease
• Employing geneticists to identify genetic, inheritable conditions
• Cryopreserving, or freezing, sperm
• Coordinating transport to fertility clinics and IVF labs

The screening process takes two steps: Once when the semen is first collected, and a second time after a six-month incubation period. Some disease markers and irregularities do not show up initially, but will surface after some time has passed.

Regardless of which option you choose, a known or anonymous sperm donor, it is the policy of Innovative Fertility Center and our IVF lab that donor sperm is screened for infectious disease, cryopreserved and quarantined. The HIV virus does not always show up on initial screening tests.

Our team will coordinate the arrival of your donor sperm to coincide with your IVF or IUI procedure.

Congratulations on your decision to move forward with third-party reproduction, and the use of donor sperm. If you have not set your initial appointment, you may do so here.