Donor treatment overseas

If you are considering using a donor abroad, there are several important points you need to know:

Donor law abroad: If you are having donor treatment abroad, it is important that you understand your legal rights and responsibilities as the biological parent. In the UK, if you donate eggs, embryos or sperm at a licensed clinic, you have no rights or responsibilities to any children born as a result of your donation. However, in other countries, this may not be the case. Therefore, you must do your research.

Recruitment and health checks in other countries: When seeking donor treatment abroad, you need to find out what the recruiting and screening process for donors is. All donors should be checked for infectious diseases, and their family history should be thoroughly checked, to ensure they won’t pass on any serious genetic diseases.

Donor anonymity abroad: When undertaking donor treatment abroad, it is important to consider donor anonymity laws as these can vary from country to country. Even when donations are anonymous, you can find out some identifying information about your donor (such as a physical description).

Donor limitations abroad: When considering donor treatment abroad, you may want to check if there are limits on using one donor. In the UK, one donor’s sperm can be used by up to 10 families. This is to limit the number of children with a genetic connection to you. It is important to consider that this may not be the case in other countries and, therefore, your child could be genetically related to many more families.