With a 15% drop in the number of sperm donors between 2006 and 2010, the opening of assisted reproduction to couples of homosexual women would pose a problem.
350 sperm donors in 2006, 299 in 2010 at a time when it is a question of opening medically assisted procreation (MAP) to couples of homosexual women, this drop of 15% in the number of sperm donors, noted by the Biomedicine Agency, is it worrying? In France, the number of sperm donations usually makes it possible to meet the demand of the couples concerned. In 2010, more than 1,000 children were born thanks to sperm donation and nearly 3,000 couples applied for assisted reproduction.
If there is no shortage, some couples can still wait up to two years. Especially since some sperm conservation centers (CECOS) sometimes note a concern on the part of donors. Main reason, the fear of seeing a questioning of anonymity as claimed by several associations bringing together adults born from assisted reproduction.
A fear that the CECOS of the Cochin hospital in Paris notes. At the start of 2013, it will therefore launch an information campaign on sperm donation. The goal is to stop the slight decrease in the number of donors (37 donors in 2012 against 40 in 2010). Dr Véronique Drouineaud, head of CECOS at Cochin hospital talks to us about the concerns of donors received last year in this hospital …
Listen to Dr Véronique Drouineaud, head of CECOS at Cochin hospital: “donors always ask the question, they ask each time if the donation is still …”
At Cochin Hospital, the deadline for receiving a sperm donation is around one year for couples. A waiting time that can sometimes be lengthened. Finding the right profiles corresponding to the demands of couples is not always easy. Today, the latter have increasingly precise requirements. The different ethnic origin of the applicants often complicates the work of doctors …
Listen to Dr Véronique Drouinaud, head of CECOS at Cochin hospital: “if the people are of a particular ethnicity, it must be taken into account and there sometimes it is a little more complicated …”
To increase stocks, the Biomedicine Agency organized an open house on November 14th dedicated to information on sperm donation. Difficult recruitment because French donors are not remunerated. Organ donation in France meets three rules: free, voluntary service and anonymity.
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