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Your guide to artificial insemination laws and regulations
Artificial insemination or intrauterine insemination is a fertility treatment where sperm is inserted into the cervix or womb. It’s subject to laws, rules, and regulations, particularly when using sperm from someone other than the intended second parent.
Before starting your fertility journey, you’ll naturally want to know where you, any partners or co-parents and your sperm donor stand. When having treatment at a licensed fertility clinic, they’ll counsel you on the relevant laws and make sure the correct processes are in place for your protection.
Find out what you need to know about current UK laws on legal parenthood, donor anonymity and other important issues when having artificial insemination.
The importance of understanding current laws
Artificial insemination is an assisted reproduction technique that commonly uses gametes or sperm from somebody other than the intended second legal parent.
The birth parent is always recognised as the legal mother or parent. But for the second parent, the rules are a little more complex. The second legal parent depends on several factors:
If the birthing parent is married or in a civil partnership
Whose sperm is being used
Whether the donation occurred through a licensed fertility clinic
Completion of parental or adoption order forms
Regulations and laws for fertility treatments, including artificial insemination and use of donor sperm, are overseen by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), an independent regulatory body in the UK.
It’s important to know that home insemination differs from artificial insemination at a licensed fertility clinic in many ways and is also subject to parental laws. Find out more about home insemination here.
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The rules regarding sperm donation
A sperm donor is someone who provides a sperm sample for someone’s fertility treatment without intending to be a legal parent. This may be a known donor (for example, a close friend) or an anonymous donor through a sperm bank or your fertility clinic.
Purchasing donor sperm through a licensed fertility is arguably the most secure option; in the UK, we are bound to several strict rules on providing donor sperm for fertility treatment, including:
Health screening – all sperm donors must have blood tests and a semen analysis to check sperm quality and rule out genetic and infectious diseases. All samples are quarantined until they receive medical clearance
Maximum use – sperm donors can only donate up to a maximum of 10 families, which is a safe practice for lowering the risk of two children having a relationship in the future without knowing they are genetically related
Importation – the same strict rules for sperm donation in the UK must also be applied to donor sperm imported from overseas
A sperm donor is not recognised as a legal parent when they register through a licensed UK clinic and donate anonymously to an unknown recipient for artificial insemination (or any other fertility treatment). This means they have no rights or responsibilities to any child born.
The confidentiality of donors
In the UK, the confidentiality or anonymity of a sperm donor changes over time and depends on who is requesting the information. There are three stages.
At donation and use – the sperm donor is anonymous to any recipient. The recipient can access a description, such as their height, weight and skin colour, basic medical history and any other information the donor provides, such as their interests or occupation. The recipient doesn’t see a picture of the donor or receive any identifying information.
When the child turns 16 – at no point can the recipient (parent) request information about the donor, but any child resulting from the donation can. The child can request non-identifying information about the donor, which includes a physical description, the year and country of birth, marital status, a basic medical history, and any other children at the time of donation.
When the child turns 18 – at this stage, the child can request identifying information about the donor, which includes their full name (now and birth), the date and town of birth, the most recent known address, and any other identifying information.
This means that the child can have future contact with the sperm donor, which should be considered by all parties involved before going ahead with treatment, including the recipient and the donor.
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Choosing the characteristics of your child
While there’s no guarantee of the traits the child will inherit, it’s possible to choose certain characteristics of the donor. The child gets half of their DNA from the parent providing sperm and half their DNA from the parent providing the egg.
Many physical characteristics are controlled by several genes that interact. It’s not as simple as to say there’s a 50/50 chance of inheriting a certain feature from the donor.
Still, people using a sperm donor for artificial insemination will often choose someone with characteristics similar to themselves, their partner, or family members.
When choosing a sperm donor, you can know:
Height
Weight
Eye colour
Skin colour
Hair colour
A basic medical history
Education and occupation
Learn more about the information you’ll receive, and how to choose a sperm donor for fertility treatment.
Child welfare
Before 2003, the HFEA required clinicians to assess the welfare of any child that might result from fertility treatment before providing their services.
On paper, this was a sensible and ethical requirement. However, in practice, clinicians were often not trained or equipped to evaluate domestic arrangements or parental fitness in the way required for adoption, for example.
Concerns about potential discrimination led to changes in these requirements. Instead, clinicians now must assess whether any future child could be at risk of serious harm.
The newer code states that clinicians should assume “that all prospective parents will be supportive parents, in the absence of any reasonable cause for concern that any child who may be born, or any other child, may be at risk of significant harm or neglect”.
An example of this would be if the parents-to-be have other children who’ve been taken into care services because of harm or neglect.
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Legal parenthood for same-sex couples
For same-sex couples having artificial insemination, both people can be legally recognised as parents, regardless of whether they are married, in a civil partnership, or not, but certain processes need to happen first.
As in all cases, using donor sperm through a licensed fertility clinic means the donor won’t be a legal parent. For couples who are not married or in a civil partnership, the non-birthing parent will need to fill out a parental order form to become the second legal parent.
In other cases, for example, a friend donating to someone they know, the donor won’t be a legal parent provided the child already has two legal parents (i.e., the birth parent and their partner if they are married or in a civil partnership).
Outside of this, it’s possible that a sperm donor could be recognised as a legal parent. The most common scenario where this happens is when a single or a couple not married or in a civil partnership uses sperm for home insemination.
For more information, refer to our FAQs on legal parenthood for LGBTQ+ families having fertility treatment.
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Start your fertility journey with TFP Fertility
Whether you’re concerned about your fertility or are ready to consider treatment, we’re here with specialist advice, fertility assessments, and a range of treatments to support all kinds of parents-to-be. For more information or book an appointment, fill out our contact form and we’ll be in touch.
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