As a result of the Sperm Donor Registry Law, which came into force on July 1, 2018, sperm donors can no longer be determined as legal fathers. At the same time, donor children are given the opportunity to find out about their origins from the central donor registry.

Sperm donation has become safer. Safer for everyone: Thanks to the new sperm donation law, which comes into force in July 2018, the sperm donor can no longer be determined as the legal father. This means that the previously theoretical and, as far as we know, never realized possibility of claiming care, maintenance and inheritance rights against the sperm donor has been completely eliminated. The fact that a sperm donation may result in a claim for maintenance has been one of the main concerns of potential donors and is now a thing of the past. The new law provides donor children with the security of being able to obtain information about their origin, and thus their own identity, from the central donor registry. In addition, there are no longer any legal risks for the sperm donors who bring happiness to hopeful couples and intended parents, neither in theory nor in practice.

Absolute legal certainty for donors

A new provision in the German Civil Code (BGB § 1600) excludes the possibility of establishing the legal paternity of the donor. This important regulation strengthens the protection of the donor as well as the position of the intended father in the families created by donor insemination: The question of one’s own origin remains essential for most children, but biological parentage does not have the same significance as the bond with one’s parents or the love and care that a child receives from its parents in its family.

Donor children’s right to information

What we have already been doing at the Erlanger Samenbank since its foundation with the help of the “Erlanger Notary Model” will now become the norm for other seed banks nationwide through this seed donation law: Anyone who suspects or has been informed by his or her parents that he or she was conceived with the help of a sperm donation can, upon reaching the age of 16, obtain information from the sperm donor registry. The registry will be established at the German Federal Institute for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices (BfArM) under the strictest data protection regulations. The data of the sperm donors will be kept for 110 years.
 

We know that many donor children who have been informed about the circumstances of their conception want to know more about the donor, his or her motives, and whether they have any half siblings. Until now, these questions could not be answered in many cases because the treatment records were no longer available. This very problem should be a thing of the past now.

Potential for further regulation

The establishment of a central semen donor registry is a great and important step. Nevertheless, further regulations and improvements are recommended by all sides. For example, the German Association of Families after Sperm Donation, DI-Netz e.V., which also advocates that the contact between donors and children should be accompanied by more than mere notification, demands that minimum standards be set for the medical education of donors and patients. In addition, the register should make it possible to search for genetic half sibling and sisters and provide information for the grandchildren.
 
The Erlangen Sperm Bank also sees room for improvement in the new law: “A major weakness of the law is that, for data protection reasons, it does not cover all the treatments that are carried out, but only those in which the parents report the birth,” says Dr. Andreas Hammel of the Erlanger Samenbank.If parents fail to report the birth of a child, or if they deliberately make false statements to the doctors treating the child, the children born and their donors will not be recorded in the registry, and the child will find it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain information about his or her genetic origins and the donor.
 

 

Would you like to know more information about the semen donor registry law or do you have any questions before donating semen? Then contact us – we are here for you!