Majority in our poll against sperm donations from the dead

The Journal of Medical Ethics, claims that opt-in post-death donations could be a way of increasing available stocks. There is a growing shortage of sperm donation around the country because of strict regulations.

In 2017, 2,345 babies in the UK were born after a sperm donation. But some people have raised ethical concerns about consent and anonymity.

So we asked in our Facebook poll: “Do you think sperm should be added to the list of human tissue that can be donated after death?”

At the time of writing, 750 people had voted with 37% saying yes, 63% no. Here are some of the comments we received.

Elaine Mansell is clearly agauinst the idea. She said: “Enough children now without parents.”

Rachel Mavin also had misgivings, saying: “Think that's taking it a bit too far. I'm all for organ donation, but this I'm not so sure.”

Anthony Joseph Johnson, who isn’t keen either, said: “The idea of organ donation is that is saves a person's life. If a woman receives sperm as a donation from some mystery deceased donor, why would that be necessary?”

But David Pattinson said: “If someone is on the donor list and they have consented to medical experts using any organs or tissues, then surely it is ok. If any part of me can help someone in death, they are more than welcome to it.”