THIS ISSUE

The £35 baby boom

With registered sperm donors in short supply, thousands of women are taking matters into their own hands and tracking down donors online, paying a £35 fee to find the perfect no-strings dad. Sian Lewis investigates

Jennifer*, 36, stares at her computer screen, scrolling through the online details of hundreds of men. A few minutes later she strikes gold – he’s tall, with dark hair and blue eyes. And he lives just down the road. ‘I think I’ve found Mr Right,’ she calls to husband Andy*. ‘Come and have a look, he looks just like you, and he’s done this before. He sounds perfect.’ No, Jennifer isn’t looking to spice up the marital bed. Instead, she’s one of a growing number of women shopping online for a sperm donor.

‘This is hardly how I imagined the conception of my first child,’ admits Jennifer. ‘When we found out last year that Andy is sterile, we were devastated. A friend had conceived through IVF with donor sperm, so we approached our GP, who explained the waiting list was two years minimum. By that time, I could be too old to conceive. I spent months grieving for the child I thought I’d never have.’

Then an internet search for infertility support groups led Jennifer to a website with adverts from both sperm donors and women in need. ‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,’ says Jennifer. ‘I knew the UK has a shortage of sperm donors, and we’d been considering spending thousands on IVF, yet here were nearly 1,000 donors on just one website – and none were even charging, they just wanted to help. All you had to pay was £35 for a month’s membership. I registered that night and wrote an advert explaining how much Andy and I wanted a child.

‘Three weeks later, we’ve now chosen a donor from the 10 who responded. We’re hoping to meet him for the first time in a few weeks. We’ve decided not to tell anyone yet – I want to focus on getting pregnant – but we will afterwards. We’re not ashamed, and hopefully we can make any child see that they have no reason to be either. Some people might be shocked, but I’m convinced this is our best chance to have a baby.’

*Name has been changed

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