Genetic sperm donor

Sharine and Brian Kretchmar of Yukon, Okla. After a depressing series of failures, a doctor finally advised them to find a sperm donor. For more than a year, the Kretchmars carefully researched sperm banks and donors. The donor they chose was a family man, a Christian like them, they were told. Most important, he had a clean bill of health. So the Kretchmars took a deep breath and jumped in.

The rise of consumer genetic tests — which allow people to connect with relatives they never knew they had, including some who never intended to be found in the first place — is forcing sperm donation clinics to confront the fact that it is now virtually impossible to guarantee anonymity to their clients. Instead, sites like 23andMe and Ancestry. That, clinics and outside experts say, has forced a reckoning for the industry. And in at least one case, a clinic has sought to draw a line in the sand, ordering a woman to cease and desist efforts to contact a long-ago donor she had identified after using 23andMe. Donor anonymity is also an issue for egg donors, but less so.

This benefits our clients looking to conceive using donor sperm as well as the donors themselves. One major way we do this is by continually updating our approach to genetic testing as technology improves. Our current testing covers up to genetic conditions.

A lot of people want to make a difference by donating sperm through us. We have high requirements for sperm quality and not everyone is able to deliver that quality. It has been at the centre of our operations since we opened in and we continue to change and update it on a continuous basis.