How many times can you donate sperm in Spain?
Everybody knows that some couples find it difficult to achieve their desired child. In some cases, donor sperm can be the perfect alternative to achieve it.
Donating sperm is a gesture that helps both couples who suffer from infertility and women who do not have a male partner and need a sperm donation to become mothers. It is an act of generosity that makes the wish of many families come true. With something as simple as donating your own sperm, you can help these couples achieve their dream.
Índice
Benefits of donating sperm
By donating your sperm you achieve:
- Helping others: it is an act of solidarity towards those who need assisted reproduction treatment to become parents.
- Receive information about reproductive health: during the sperm donation process, a genetic test is performed and can reveal your predisposition to certain hereditary diseases. This information is beneficial for you and also for your family.
How many times can sperm be donated?
The donor comes to the clinic once a week to donate sperm.
The sample is obtained in a sterile container by masturbation, always maintaining sexual abstinence for 3 to 5 days to guarantee optimum quality (the day and time of the donation are agreed between the donor and the laboratory).
The number of times a person can donate will depend on different factors, the most important of which is the quality of the sperm at the time of donation. Therefore, the frequency with which sperm can be donated will depend on these factors. It is usual for the donor to come once a week for approximately 15-20 weeks. However, it is always possible to tailor the process to the individual’s needs.
If you are wondering how often you can donate sperm or how many times you can donate sperm, the answer depends on the legislation and quality controls of each assisted reproduction centre, as well as the maximum number of offspring allowed by law.
Legal considerations
In this field, Spain has a law that covers all possible cases and regulates the actions of professionals: Law 14/2006 on Assisted Human Reproduction Techniques. This law establishes that both sperm and egg donation and embryo donation are legal practices regulated by means of a free, formal and confidential contract between the donor and the authorised assisted reproduction centre.
According to this law, the maximum number of children born in Spain with gametes from the same donor cannot exceed six. Therefore, once this number has been reached, the donor cannot make any more donations.
Donors must declare in each donation whether they have made previous donations, as well as the conditions of these donations, and indicate the time and the centre in which they were made.
To guarantee this limit, the Assisted Human Reproduction Information System (SIRHA in Spanish) has been implemented. This system generates a Single European Code (SEC) for each treatment involving tissue donation (in this case, semen or oocytes), allowing traceability throughout Europe. This automatically limits the number of donations to a maximum of 40 in the case of male gamete donors.
Physiological requirements
Spanish legislation establishes a series of requirements for donating sperm:
- Be between 18 and 35 years old.
- Be in good mental and physical health.
- Have good semen quality, according to WHO criteria.
- Not suffer from genetic or sexually transmitted diseases.
According to the Law on Assisted Human Reproduction Techniques, donation is a completely anonymous, free, voluntary and informed process, and is not remunerated. The donation will never be of a lucrative or commercial nature. The financial compensation that may be set may only strictly cover the physical discomfort and the travel and work expenses derived from the donation, without being an economic incentive.
Spanish legislation guarantees the anonymity of the donor. The assisted reproduction centre is responsible for ensuring that the couple receiving the sperm cannot know any personal details about the donor and vice versa.
Exceptionally, in extraordinary circumstances involving certain danger to the life or health of the child, the identity of the donor may be disclosed, but only if such disclosure is imperative to avoid the danger. Even in this case, disclosure shall be restricted.
Therefore, the identity of the donor and that of the recipient family are protected by law.
In order to comply with these requirements, Instituto Bernabeu applies the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Organic Law 3/2018, on Personal Data Protection and Guarantee of Digital Rights (LOPDGDD), as well as following the regulations of the National Registry of Donors for Assisted Reproduction (SIRHA).
Donation process
Sperm donation is a voluntary process, and the donor can decide at any time whether to continue with the process or to interrupt it temporarily or permanently.
No treatment or medication is required. It is a quick procedure: all the sperm analyses are carried out in just 15 minutes.
To begin the donation process, the following tests and studies must be carried out:
- Personal interview on personal and family medical history, together with a psychological evaluation. In addition, the donor’s phenotypic characteristics will be analysed.
- Blood and urine sample analysis, with the aim of detecting:
- Transmissible infectious diseases.
- Most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
- Genetic study to rule out hereditary diseases:
- Analysis of 552 genes linked to more than 600 autosomal recessive diseases.
- From 2020, study of 2,306 genes linked to more than 3,000 hereditary diseases (TCG: Broader genetic compatibility test).
- General analyses: blood group, Rh factor, serology for syphilis, hepatitis B and C, HIV, etc.
- Semen quality study and semen freeze-thaw test.
- To be accepted as a donor, the sperm quality must be above the normal values according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
- Not being accepted as a donor does not necessarily imply that there will be fertility problems in the future.
- Donated sperm is kept frozen at —196°C, so it is of main importance to check that the semen sample withstands this process.
- Psychological evaluation of the donor.
Once we have obtained favourable results in all the tests, the donation process begins.
Olga Llorente, Andrology Laboratory Supervisor at Instituto Bernabeu Madrid.