Norway starts to export sperm
A member of staff takes out donor sperm from storage at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo. Photo AFP, Yuichi Yamazaki
Northern Europe
Swedish and Icelandic women will be able to get pregnant with Norwegian sperm. The Directorate of Health in Norway deems it okay to export semen abroad.
There are no reasons why sperm should not be exported to other countries, Anne Forus says to NRK. Forus is a senior advisor of the Directorate of Health. She points out that the health authority has checked the clinics abroad to ensure the sperm trade will not violate Norwegian law.
Currently, sperm from Norwegian men can only be used to inseminate a maximum of six Norwegian women. These women can get more children of one sperm donor. However, with the new guidelines, sperm donors can donate semen to six additional families in Sweden and two in Iceland.
Until now, the Norwegian Health Directorate had only allowed the import of semen into Norway.
Sibling group
The Association for Donor Conceived in Norway (DUIN) is no fan of the export option, Vart Land writes. The organisation points out that the importance of the current regulation is not only meant to ensure that donor-conceived children can get to know their biological father but also to limit the number of siblings. “By exporting cells abroad, we no longer have that control, and the sibling group can become abnormally large”, DUIN board member Raymond Egge Kristiansen says.
DUIN, therefore, pleads for a common Nordic regulation first.
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