If I were a man, I would definitely think twice about becoming a sperm donor for the simple fact that it is not as anonymous as it should be. Due to innovations in DNA testing, and general sleuthing, some mothers have actually been able to find out the identity of biological father of their children.


I came across an article today in Slate in which a mother described how she was concerned that her daughter had a Sensory Disorder and  was sensitive to sounds and walked on her toes. She came to the conclusion that it was necessary for her to track down the other biological siblings of her child, which she did through the Donor Sibling Registry and found other siblings with the exact same disorder.

This should have been the end of the story, but it apparently wasn’t enough information for this mom- the same mother obtained permission from another parent to test for the Y-chromosome (the father’s gene) of another sibling. Through the information she obtained through the tests and random fact-checking, she was actually able to obtain enough information to personally call the man she thought might be the biological father of her child. Surprisingly, he admitted to her that he had been a sperm donor and agreed to meet with her, but hasn’t met any of the other parents.

While it may have worked out well for this woman, I doubt it would work out well for a majority of other families in similar situations. Most sperm donors presumably choose to donate sperm because they are in need of cash, and do it anonymously because they do not want surprise phone calls like the other donor had. If a particular sperm donor wants to be more open, they would let the sperm banks know. 

According to the article, the possibility of a parent or child being able to track down a sperm donor  is somewhat forcing the Sperm Banks hands. Some sperm banks have chosen to admit that while they will personally try to protect the privacy of their donors, they can’t really do anything about future advances in DNA technology that might make it easier for families to find the donors.

Other sperm banks are not taking the high road and worry (probably correctly) that if they disclose that there is a  possibility for donors to be identified, they may have less donors.