Good & Healthy Relationship Advice & Tips

Sperm donation or third party reproduction is the provision of male sperm (known as donor sperm) primarily for the purpose of inseminating a female who is not his sexual partner.

The sperm may be donated privately or directly to the intended recipient through a sperm bank or fertility clinic. The female may be inseminated naturally (through sexual intercourse) or through artificial insemination.

Pregnancy is achieved using donor sperm in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), Techniques such as intracervical insemination (ICI) or intrauterine insemination (ICU) in a clinic. It may also be done through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Today, sperm donation is on the increase in Ghana. According to the Economic Tribune of Oct. 2, 2012, ‘sperm has become one the hottest commodities being sold in Ghana.’

The need for sperm donation

Some men are unable to produce sperms at all or have low sperm count. This means their ejaculate contain less than 20 million sperms per ml, the minimum to enhance pregnancy. There are also those men whose sperms are weak, defective or abnormal and die before they reach the egg.

Some have blocked sperm duct or genetic defect. Few have ejaculatory disorders and this includes sperms going into the bladder instead of through the urethra and out of the penis.

Men account for 40 per cent of childlessness in marriage. Women also account for 40 per cent. The remaining 20 per cent is unknown, unexplained or expected.

Unfortunately, every Ghanaian man thinks he is potent. They refuse suggestions for help and many wives are pressurised to bring in children from outside through infidelity.

Some women are single and wish to have children without a man in their lives. They want to raise their children their own way and singlehandedly.

Today, with increasing homosexuality in Ghana, lesbians are opting for sperm donation.

Those who will donate

For young men who do not have much money but would like to have all the goodies of life, sperm donation looks too good to let go. It pays very well and requires nothing more than what you may have been doing and enjoying.

 In a single ejaculation you produce up to 30 million sperms but in a single day your testicles produce about 500 million sperms. You don’t lose anything!

In Ghana children are the focus of marriage and a marriage without children is seen as bad omen and prone to failure. If you donate your sperm and stabilise a marriage, you can look back and be proud of what you have done.

Those who will not donate

A sperm donor is the biological father of the child produced as a result of sperm donation but he is not the legal father. You have no rights or responsibilities towards the child.

Our tradition of the family system makes it hard for a Ghanaian to accept this.

You have to give the medical history of yourself, parents and siblings to enhance your eligibility. Many Ghanaians do not want to give intimate information of themselves and family.

Catholics reject sperm donation because the faith teaches that sperm donation other than the husband in normal penetrative intercourse is wrong.

Divine law decrees that procreation of a human life shall be the fruit of marriage alone.

Only the two spouses have reciprocal rights over each other for the purpose of procreation. Donor insemination does not express the reality of human love and creativity. Sperm donation is, therefore, morally illicit.

Will you donate a sperm?

Last year, a tall handsome and intelligent man in top physical condition was approached by a popular ‘cash madam’ to donate his sperm for GH¢40,000. When the man informed his wife, she rejected the offer and threatened divorce if her husband accepted the offer.

At the start of the year, many will make resolutions and this may include sperm donation or acceptance. Will you donate or accept a sperm?

Some will go for it, others will reject it. You choose and live by your choice because who and what you are today are the products of the choices you have made in life.

 jydboakye01@gmail.com. The writer is the director of Eudoo Counselling Centre, West Legon. He is also the author of ‘Your Guide To Marriage, Love Unlimited and The Journey of Love’

Mob 0208181861