UH, DAD?

20-Plus Sperm Donor Siblings Find Each Other

The rare use of one sperm donor for more than five embryos has launched a look at potential abuses in the assisted fertility market.

A genius child named Ryan Kramer, who graduated from high school at 14 and earned an aerospace engineering degree at 18, was so curious about who his sperm donor father was, he co-founded the Donor Sibling Registry. In doing so, NBC News reports that he found that his sperm donor father had 20 other children—far more than industry standards allow. The group of siblings gets together for annual reunions and keeps in touch on a closed–and expanding—Facebook group as new siblings are found. But the discovery has raised the alarm about the overuse of single sperm donors. Industry standards dictate that one donor’s sperm should be used in no more than five embryos, but some men donate in multiple clinics, which could mean they fathered scores of children. Kramer is lobbying for legislation that would help better regulate the industry and create a central donor database that includes social security numbers for sperm donors.