IVI Warns Illegal Semen Sales Via Social Media In Spain Have Increased

IVI and the Spanish Fertility Society warn that the buying and selling of semen to individuals through chats, social networks, or classified portals has increased, even as the practice remains illegal in Spain.

“Based on facts observed and directly verified by our journalists or by informed sources”

20Minutos

Dr. Antonio Requena, medical director of IVI, said the “absence of a protocol and control médico en centros homologados por Sanidad” can have consequences for the mother, the fetus, or the future baby, including the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection.

20Minutos

Requena also tied the danger to home insemination using kits bought in pharmacies, saying these conditions “nada tienen que ver con una inseminación llevada a cabo en unas instalaciones médicas esterilizadas.”

The Spanish Fertility Society’s data cited in the reporting says inseminations at home only work in 1 of each 20 cases, and the IVI warning links low gestation rates to frustration and abandonment of treatment.

The IVI warning describes online donor ads that emphasize a fixed physical profile—“Rubio, alto y con ojos azules y sin ningún problema de salud”—while stressing that clinics instead focus on clinical traits and medical testing.

In Spain, the reporting says it is not permitted to choose a donor and that the donor “siempre tiene que ser anónimo por ley,” with only general characteristics allowed to protect identity.

BBC

The same reporting says clinics perform a karyotype study to detect chromosomal alterations, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, and genetic testing to rule out donors carrying a group of genetic illnesses with notable incidence in Spain.

It also says that beyond anonymity, uncontrolled internet sales remove the guarantee of traceability, citing a Dutch donor case who ended up selling semen samples to 500 women.

In the Netherlands, 20Minutos reports that Jonathan Meijer, a 41-year-old Dutchman, admitted fathering 550 children through semen donation and defended himself during a hearing at a Dutch court in The Hague.

“Buying semen over the Internet is an increasing trend”

El Periódico

The article says the case pits Jonathan M. against Eva and the Donorkind foundation, and it quotes Jonathan saying, “They present me as if I were some kind of rabid bull with a procreative impulse. I am not.”

In the UK, a BBC Wales investigation described paying £100 for a next-day delivery sample from a man advertising online as “baby batter,” and it says a licensed clinic checked the sample four hours after it was received and found all sperm cells were dead.

The BBC also reports that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority defined unregulated donation as occurring outside of an HFEA-licensed premises and said it is a criminal offence in the UK.