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Sperm Donors

Most New Zealand semen donors are motivated primarily by an altruistic desire to help infertile couple, suggests research by Ken Daniels, head of the University of Canterbury's Social Work Department.

Daniels surveyed the attitudes and motivation of 37 New Zealand semen donors. According to his results, 91% of these donors do so to help infertile couples, and 59% claimed this was their only motivation. A desire to evaluate their own fertility featured in the reasons given for donation by 14% of the sample.

Although the survey guaranteed anonymity for respondents, 86% chose to give their names and only 46% stated they would be unwilling to donate if their identity was made known. According to Daniels, results like this indicate sperm donors don't feel they need to be "protected", challenging a common belief that donors won't be available unless they're promised anonymity.

Some donor recruitment policies exclude potential donors who display much interest in the outcome of their donation, but 38% of respondents said they would like to know this -- a substantially lower figure than the 96% obtained in a similar Australian survey.

Research of this kind is raising awareness of the needs of sperm donors, and Daniels claimed that an implication of his work was that it may be wrong to see donors simply as a means to an end. His research indicated the donors' actions should properly be viewed in the context of their largely altruistic motivations.

Chris Smyth