Men's Health > Sperm > Online Sperm Bank

Online Sperm Banks

Infertile couples and women contemplating pregnancy through sperm or egg donation today can browse physical descriptions and personality attributes of anonymous donors with whose genetic ribbon they might choose to tie a knot.

Online sperm banks "donor catalogues" now provide virtual window shoppers with a detailed low-down on hundreds of donors such as height, weight, appearance, personal and family medical history, occupation, educational background, personality traits, interests, and in some cases even more.

Though not exactly the lyrical "tall, dark, SWM loves long walks" come-on common to the personals, many come close. Some critics think too close for comfort.

The Egg and I

When news surfaced concerning a new and controversial Web site proposing to auction off the fertile eggs of beautiful young models for as much as $150,000 a pop, the crass commercialism duked it out with discretion, catching the public and the profession off guard. The ethics of bidding up genetically blessed ova over the Internet seemed to cross the line of decency. Infertility groups wondered if, in a world that is already sadly superficial, even artificial insemination now could be going only skin deep?

Since then, that same egg entrepreneur, has announced a model sperm auction whose donors are described as handsome, healthy, intelligent men. Details are available only to paid visitors of the site, but anyone can access the full-color photograph of a Speedo-clad male model, supposedly one of the pricey donors. Minimum bid: $15,000.

Not FDIC Insured

One of the largest sperm banks in the world, Fairfax Cryobank now advertises online; previously it had not advertised anywhere. Its Web site contains extensive information about donor selection procedures, infectious disease and genetic testing info, even a birth-date calculator and a blood-type predictor. Visitors can access for free its basic donor catalogue, or search it for preferred characteristics such as ethnic background, race, eye color, hair color, educational background, etc. Cryobank's "Fairfax Doctorate" program offers sperm of PhDs, and donors with law degrees and medical school degrees for almost twice the $115 per dose its otherwise ordinary sperm costs.

Other online sperm banks are specializing in donor types, along the lines of the "genius sperm banks" that trade only in high-IQ genetics, though not nearly as brazen--nor as expensive--in their selectivity as RonsAngels.com's promise of physical beauty. San Francisco's Rainbow Flag Health Services, for instance, actively recruits gay and bisexual sperm donors, who agree to be identifed to the mother when the child is 3 months old.

"You want Fries with That?"

Everything being equal, couples select the donor with more education. Meanwhile, egg donor recipients tend to be discriminating over the donor's weight and height, and there's no market for the sperm or eggs of unattractive or overweight donors.

With no industry guidelines, only two states with strict laws governing sperm banking and human egg donation, and scheduled U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations probably two years away, some infertility experts fear supply-and-demand in the marketplace may steer the industry to deplorable extremes on the Internet.

Perhaps, the marketplace is already there.

Paul Ellis - Men's Health