Sperm app to help busy women tailor-make their kids

LONDON: A sperm bank has launched a smartphone app that allows women to browse potential donors to father their child.

The app is being marketed as perfect for busy women, allowing them to “plan your family on the go”. Would-be moms can browse men by characteristics such as height, ethnicity, education and hair colour – and even if they have a good sense of humour.

They can then create a wish list of their desired traits, and will receive alerts from the London Sperm Bank as new donors become available. To obtain a sample, the user must pay £950 (R16 900) via the app, which will allow the sperm to be delivered to a fertility clinic of their choice.

Campaigners have criticised the so-called “choose Daddy” app, saying it made a mockery of fatherhood.

The London Sperm Bank says the app is the first of its kind, and is designed to “address the acute shortage of donated sperm”.

Much like dating apps, it includes a biography of the potential father with their educational history, job and personality traits.

Dr Kamal Ahuja, of the London Sperm Bank, said finding a donor would be as easy as ordering from shopping websites.

“You make all the transactions online, like you do anything else these days,’ he told The Sunday Times.

“This allows a woman who wants to get a sperm donor to gain control in the privacy of her own home and to choose and decide in her own time.”

The app has met all the criteria set by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates in vitro fertilisation. It is understood around half of the UK’s private and National Health Service in vitro fertilisation clinics have registered with the service.

But it has been criticised by campaigners for trivialising parenthood.

Josephine Quintavalle, of the Comment on Reproductive Ethics group, said: “It’s digital dads. Choose Daddy. This is the ultimate denigration of fatherhood.” – Daily Mail