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PETBioNewsNewsSperm donor awarded damages after sperm used by gay couples

BioNews

Sperm donor awarded damages after sperm used by gay couples

Published 2 October 2020 posted in News and appears in BioNews 1066

Author

Martha Roberts

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).

A sperm donor has been awarded compensation from fertility clinic after his sperm was used in the treatment of same-sex couples and single women against his wishes...

A sperm donor has been awarded compensation from a fertility clinic after his sperm was used in the treatment of same-sex couples and single women against his wishes. 

When donating his sperm at Manchester CARE Fertility clinic in 2010, Neil Gaskell made it clear on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) consent form that he wanted his sperm to be used to treat heterosexual couples only.

'It takes a man and a woman to create a child, and it's my view that if children are born with my sperm, they must have a mother and a father' Gaskell told the Sunday Mirror 'I worried about how they'd be brought up, whether they'd be bullied in the playground, or about having two mums. I didn't want that for my children. I accept that's going to be divisive, but it's how I feel.'

Gaskell and his former partner were undergoing IVF treatment at CARE Fertility, when they approached him to become a donor due to the good health of his sperm. Donors are informed their sperm will go to a maximum of ten families. Gaskell said he assumed that meant it would go to couples, not single women. He was told six years later that his sperm had provided 11 families with a total of 13 children, including same-sex families and single mothers.

'It was life-changing – impossible to process. The betrayal of my wishes really got me, and the sheer number of children,' he told the Mail on Sunday.

Gaskell decided to sue CARE Fertility, and after a four-year legal dispute, he received a settlement out of court. 

Gaskell's wishes were in line with the HFEA Code of Practice, which states donors can specify special conditions for the storage or use of their sperm, or embryos created using it. However, his conditions were at odds with the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination against protected groups, including same-sex couples.

The HFEA Code of Practice recognises that conditions set by donors may be incompatible with the Equality Act, but it is left to individual clinics to judge whether this will result in less favourable treatment for their patients and therefore whether to recruit the donor.

CARE Fertility said errors like this are 'exceptionally rare' but importantly it has brought to light the tensions caused by permitting conditionality on donated sperm and eggs.

A spokesperson from the HFEA told the Sunday Mirror: 'Lessons have been learned and the clinic now ensures that all treatments are conducted in line with our Code of Practice and the Equality Act 2010, to ensure that no one receiving treatment is discriminated against because of a protected characteristic, including sexual orientation.'

Sources and References

  • 26/09/2020
    Daily Mail
    'I'm not a bigot, I just believe children need a father figure': Donor wins legal battle after clinic used his sperm to father nine children with gay parents and single mothers against his wishes
  • 27/09/2020
    Metro
    Dad sues IVF clinic after his 'superman-strength' sperm is given to gay couples
  • HFEA
    Code of Practice (pp. 120-121, paragraphs 11.20, 11.21 and 11.22)
  • 26/09/2020
    Sunday Mirror
    Man sues IVF clinic after his sperm is used to help gay couples and single mums

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