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Screening of Donors for Artificial Insemination Procedures

94.12PU Policy Update: Screening of Donors for Artificial Insemination Procedures and the Rights and Protection of Resultant Children

[Whereas], Rationale:

While artificial insemination by donor (AID) has been accepted and established procedure for over thirty years, recent research findings by the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies show that there is still a marked variation in clinical practices and procedures across the country and that compliance with existing guidelines is patchy.

Inadequate screening can put all parties at risk in areas as diverse as HIV infection, genetic damage, consanguinity, disease, and law. NCWC is particularly concerned about the risks to children born through artificial insemination procedures, whose welfare should be of primary importance. Not enough consideration has been given to their interests or to legal protection of their status.

Comprehensive and stringent standards of donor screening are needed for their protection.

NCWC has also asked its Provincial Councils of Women to study the present legal status of children born through artificial insemination procedures in their respective provinces, with a view if necessary to getting legislation enacted to ensure that all such children have the same rights, privileges, status and treatment within the law as have children born through the regular conception process.

[RESOLVED], The National Council of Women of Canada urges the Government of Canada to develop fully comprehensive and nationally accepted standards of donor screening which should include:

  1. The keeping of comprehensive health records for each donor plus his genetic background;
  2. Regulations as to how often sperm from one donor may be used;
  3. Following the guidelines established by the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society which state that sperm should be frozen and quarantined for at least six months, at which point the donor should be tested for HIV to ensure that the donated sperm was not infected. Only after that point, if the donor is clear, should the sperm be used.