Sperm shortage forces couples to import
This is the third part of the Michelle Lang Fellowship series, which this year takes a look at the issues facing would-be Canadian parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. Natalie Stechyson is the third recipient of the Michelle Lang Fellowship, which was established after the Calgary Herald reporter was killed in December 2009, while reporting on Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Lang was the only Canadian journalist to die during the military’s eight years in that country. The fellowship trust each year provides a unique opportunity for an intern to tackle a project of interest to all Canadians. Stechyson split her time this past year working as a reporter at Postmedia News in Ottawa and the Calgary Herald. The complete series can be found at leaderpost. com/prideandjoy TORONTO — 3246 plays the trumpet, enjoys judo and was a nationally rated chess player in university.
He has no allergies, exercises regularly, and has good teeth. His vision is excellent. He’s ambidextrous. He loves Greek food.
But perhaps the most important detail on his five-page bio is this: “3246 is a proven fertile donor.”
“I donate to share the joy of becoming a parent — a gift from my family to yours! I’m a husband and father of three with two boys and a baby girl,” he writes in an essay obtained by Postmedia News.
3246 is a Canadian sperm donor, but he’s also an endangered species.
Currently, there is only one national sperm bank in Canada. And that bank — nestled within ReproMed: The Toronto Institute for Reproductive Medicine — only had 50 active donors, including 3246, as of late August.
Two clinics in Quebec do maintain a handful of donors, bringing the country’s total number of anonymous sperm donors to around 60, but those clinics restrict sales to their own patients while ReproMed sells coast-to-coast.
By some estimates, there is a need for donor sperm for more than 5,500 inseminations per year in Canada, and 3,000 of those are for lesbian couples.
Since ReproMed requires its semen to be collected on site and its donors must attend regular medical testing, that means these 50, mostly Caucasian, men all live within a two-hour drive of Toronto.
For an intended parent seeking domestic sperm, pickings are slim.
To protect anonymity — a central pillar of the donor model — ReproMed declined to put Postmedia News in contact with any of their donors. But the clinic did provide several essays written by donors.
In his essay, 3246 writes that he got the idea after a family friend used a donor to conceive her son.
“I’ve been so fortunate in my life and see my donation as a gift I can make to help you become a parent and enjoy the warmth and happiness a family brings,” he writes.
“Being a parent is the best part of my life and my favourite thing in the world is the running hugs I get when I come home from work.”
In 1990, when ReproMed opened its doors, it was one of many sperm banks in Canada. But in 1996, to safeguard against the transmission of illness and infection, Health Canada released semen regulations under the Food and Drugs Act.
Donor semen used in assisted reproduction must be screened, tested and quarantined in accordance with stringent regulations, according to Health Canada. Many clinics found the new testing requirements and safety measures too onerous and eventually closed shop.
But the nail in the coffin came in 2004, when the government passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act and made it illegal to pay donors. Left to rely on the selflessness of men under age 40 who fit the stringent medical requirements, no large sperm banks other than ReproMed were able to survive.
When an intended parent goes to their doctor or one of about 30 fertility clinics in Canada seeking anonymous donor sperm, they’re usually given two options: order domestically from ReproMed, or order it from outside the country at an elevated cost.
The problem is that Canadian sperm donation is based on altruism, says Dr. Tamer Said, director of the sperm bank and andrology laboratory at ReproMed. And the sense of volunteerism that might compel someone to donate their genetic material usually develops later in life.
“When you’re 21 years old, that is not the first thing on your mind usually. Not just donating blood and tissue, but also donating to charity. How many 21 year olds do you know that are donating to charity versus how many 40 year olds?” Said says.
Currently, ReproMed gets about 750 to 1,000 applicants per year, about 10 per cent of what they had before 2004 when donors were paid.
But only about 0.5 per cent of applicants will be accepted under the strict requirements. Donors have to pass a plethora of tests and criteria, including age (no one over age 40 can donate sperm), medical history, infectious disease screening, genetic testing, lifestyle screening and the quality of the sperm itself.
In contrast, there are 469 donors at the California Cryobank alone as it is legal in the United States to pay sperm donors.
The biggest challenge to having a limited supply is a lack of diversity, Said says. The ReproMed donors are predominantly Caucasian. Of the 50, eight are Asian and two are black. There are zero First Nations donors.
“You really need to have every ethnic group represented so that you can offer good service and be able to address the needs of all patients.”
Clinics require a licence from Health Canada to collect, test, and preserve donor sperm for assisted reproduction. According to Health Canada, only eight Canadian clinics are licensed as sperm processors. Only two clinics other than ReproMed maintain small amounts of donor semen. Ovo Clinique de Fertilite and Procrea Centre de cryoconservation in Montreal maintain banks of five and six donors, respectively. Only patients at those clinics have access to those samples.
The lack of anonymous donors causes many Canadian lesbian couples to use sperm from someone they know. But even that is not simple.
Men donating sperm to a nonsexual partner have to go to one of the licensed processing clinics in Ontario or Quebec or to a clinic in the U.S., explains Dr. Mathias Gysler, president of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society.
So if a patient wants to use a known donor’s sperm at the Genesis Fertility Centre in Vancouver, the donor has to go to ReproMed in Toronto to be tested and to make his deposit, explains Dr. Sonya Kashyap, the clinic medical director.
When Claire Benson-Mandl and Natalie Prichard decided to start a family, they wanted anonymous sperm through a clinic. It felt safest — legally and emotionally, Benson-Mandl says.
“We were really clear that we were the head of our family unit, and the only people who would be involved in our nuclear family would be my wife, myself, and our child,” she says.
They were referred to a Vancouver fertility clinic.
When informed of their limited donor options in Canada, they imported sperm from Xytex Sperm Bank in the U.S. But importing was pricier, especially since it took Benson-Mandl 11 tries to conceive their daughter, Lucy, who is now 5.
Benson-Mandl has tried unsuccessfully to have a second child using IVF and other reproductive technologies — an experience she describes as a heartbreaking, expensive, monthly roller-coaster.
“All up, we’ve probably spent enough to buy two luxury cars, I would say. It’s a lot of money but, you know, it’s hard to put an end point on efforts to make a family.”