Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

conceptions that involve anyone but the couple under treatment. Many states have
specific laws on artificial insemination that specify that the donor father has no
legal rights. However, if a couple wants to choose their own donor or to arrange a
contract pregnancy, the laws are not as clear. Custody fights and criminal charges of
baby selling are known problems with these arrangements. The control of infectious
and genetic diseases must also be considered. The use of any tissue from a third
party requires that the physician have a complete genetic history and that the donor
be tested for infectious diseases as would an anonymous donor.
The presence of contracts or sperm donation laws may not prevent the parties from
ending up in a court case or a custody battle. Even without legal entanglements, the
social dislocations may be considerable. A man may believe that he can be
indifferent when the child is only a theoretical possibility and find that he cannot
keep away from the child when he or she is born. The mother and her husband may
also have ambivalent feelings. It is very difficult to accept paternity as an
abstraction or as a legal concept when all the people involved know one another
well.
The use of banked sperm from an unidentified donor is legally safer than using a
chosen donor. The anonymous donor has been screened for disease and has
relinquished any right to the child conceived. The donor is unlikely to know who
his biologic children are, and in general he is barred from making any legal claim
to them. Conversely, the child is cut off from important information about the
biologic parent’s medical and psychiatric history.
f) Genetic Disease
Standard of care requires reasonable screening of any prospective sperm donor for
genetic disease. This is true whether accepting donations to a sperm bank or
accepting a donation for a specific woman. This screening should include testing
when indicated. The availability of easy, inexpensive testing for sickle cell trait, for
instance, makes this test mandatory for all prospective donors who are Black. The
fact that the woman has chosen the donor does not relieve the physician of the
responsibility for using reasonable care. Many people are unaware of any genetic
disease they may carry. The patient and the donor have a right to expect that proper
precautions are taken.
g) Infection Control
The increase in severe sexually transmitted disease in the general population has
made this a paramount consideration in artificial insemination. Virtually any
venereal disease can be transmitted by fresh or processed semen. There have been
cases of infection with HIV through artificial insemination. In such a case, there
could be costly suits on behalf of the infected woman and on behalf of the baby if it
is also infected.
There are medical standards for screening donors and treating specimens to
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