Some women in the UK have been shocked to learn that their favourite donor’s sperm is being exported overseas. According to an article in BioNews, the government has set a limit of ten families who can be helped. The women select a donor profile to their liking and purchase his sperm. But when the limit is reached, sperm banks can sell the sperm overseas.

The London Sperm Bank (LSB) calls itself “the UK’s leading provider of donor sperm”. Its website says: “We store around 10,000 donor sperm samples at any given time and thousands of people use our samples every year. We help people wanting to have a family, whatever their circumstances.” LSB insists that it adheres strictly to UK regulations and will only help create ten British families. Its legal page does not specify a global limit.

One woman, Emily, discovered that the donor of her choice had been “maxed out” at LSB and his sperm was no longer available. She found this disturbing.

‘Does this mean there now is no limit to potential families using this sperm? Is this the case for all sperm sold on their website? Or are just some donors exclusively sold in the UK? Shouldn’t it say on the page [profile] that this is the case?’

Another woman, Jenny, said:

‘I was very shocked to see my child’s donor now being available for export to make a further fifteen families abroad. It was my understanding that the maximum would be ten families, not a possible twenty-five.’