What motivates men to offer sperm donation via the internet?

Abstract

To investigate why men offer sperm donation via the internet, a questionnaire was disseminated via 39 Dutch-language websites thought to be visited by potential sperm donors. Nine internet donors completed the survey, men who typically knew the women they were donating to. Their responses were compared with those of a control group of 35 general sperm bank donors who were recruited using flyers in Dutch sperm banks, and who were typically unaware of the identity of the eventual recipients. The findings shed light on the motives and attitudes of internet donors. Both groups of donors indicated that their primary motivation for donating was altruism (>80% of all respondents). However, internet donors had a more pronounced desire to procreate than sperm bank donors (6 out of 9, i.e. 66 vs. 22%, respectively) and more often felt that they had good genes they wished to pass on (5 out of 9, i.e. 55 vs. 31%, respectively). The main reason internet donors gave for donating via the internet was that they wanted to know the prospective parents and be kept up to date on the progress of the offspring conceived from their donations. This distinguishes them significantly from sperm bank donors. A further finding was that they were not prompted to avoid the formal donation circuit for which, by law in the Netherlands, pregnancies resulting from donations have to be registered in a central database. This study is subject to several, in some cases inevitable, limitations, but it provides an interesting starting point that future studies can seek to confirm and extend.

Online sperm donation: a survey of the demographic characteristics, motivations, preferences and experiences of sperm donors on a connection website

“…'s (2015) study of online sperm donors. This study also confirms that men's specific reasons for registering with websites rather than clinics include the greater potential to engage with recipient families ( Bossema et al, 2014 ; Woesternburg et al, 2015 ). However, the current study goes further in demonstrating the diversity of donors' preferences, giving a broader picture of online sperm donation overall.…”

“…Regarding motivations, the finding that the majority of these online donors were pursuing donation for altruistic reasons accords with existing research on clinic donors. Procreative motivations were also identified as important, as found in Woesternburg et al . 's (2015) study of online sperm donors.…”

“…Secondary motivations such as the desire to procreate, to check one's fertility and the reciprocity of those undergoing fertility treatment are also sometimes found ( Riggs and Russell, 2011 ; Jadva et al ., 2011 ). Specific reasons for choosing to donate in a non-clinic context have not been examined, with the exception of two small scale Dutch studies ( Bossema et al ., 2014 ; Woesternburg et al ., 2015 ). For example, Bossema et al .…”

Why search for a sperm donor online? The experiences of women searching for and contacting sperm donors on the internet

“…There has been a rise in the number of websites that facilitate contact between recipients of sperm and sperm donors, yet there are no clear estimates of how large the online sperm donation market is in the UK and abroad. This increase may be related to changes in legislation in some countries that replaces donor anonymity with identity release donors (where the donor’s identity can be disclosed to the child in the future, usually at age 18 years) (Bossema et al., 2014 ; Woestenburg, Winter, & Janssens, 2015 ). The popularity of seeking a sperm donor online may result from recipients wanting to know the donor from the outset rather than waiting to discover his identity when their child reaches age 18 years (Freeman, Appleby, & Jadva, 2012 ).…”

Using an introduction website to start a family: implications for users and health practitioners

“…Donors’ motivations also vary. A survey sent to 39 Dutch websites found that online sperm donors were principally motivated by altruism, but they also chose to donate in this way because they wanted to know the prospective parents and be kept informed about their offspring’s development ( Woestenburg et al, 2015 ). Similar results were found in a survey of 383 men registered as sperm donors with Pride Angel, in which participants were invited to ‘rate the importance of motivations for donating sperm’: the most highly rated were altruistic (e.g.…”