The following is a summary of “A SWOT analysis of unregulated sperm donation,” published in the January 2023 issue of Reproductive Biomedicine Online by Pennings, et al.

Over the past decade, a parallel system to the established fertility clinics and sperm banks has emerged. This paper presents a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of this novel phenomenon. The greatest benefit of the informal system is the increased reproductive freedom it gives women because sperm donation is no longer treated as a medical procedure. 

The potential for misuse and ethically dubious actions on the part of donors is the biggest flaw. In addition, most of the other reported drawbacks are derived from the formal system. However, upon further inspection, it becomes clear that the formal system shares most of these drawbacks (incapacity to restrict the number of offspring per donor, inaccessibility to genetic testing, and inability to verify information). 

As regulations tend to impose more restrictions on institutional sperm banks, the medicalization and user costs increase and the informal system has a bright future. The main dangers of an unregulated sperm donation system would be a reduction in the formal system’s cost, a loosening of quality and safety measures, and a loosening of rules regarding the relationship between the donor and the recipient.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1472648322007076