Our research on unregulated (online/informal) reproductive donation highlights the experiences of donors, recipients and co‑parents connecting with each other using online matching platforms.

For donors, we found that online sperm donors differed from clinic donors in that they were often older, more likely to have partners and children, and had more varied motivations and expectations, including greater interest in ongoing contact and more concerns about legal and relational uncertainties.

Our research on recipients using unregulated donation found that intended parents were often drawn to the flexibility and possibility of choosing a known donor, but had to navigate unclear boundaries, negotiate roles themselves, and manage potential risks due to the absence of formal screening and regulation. Finding a donor online allowed intended parents to decide when they shared identifiable information with their child.

For people looking for someone to enter into a co‑parenting partnership, we found that people were motivated to become co-parents because they wished to have both biological parents involved in the upbringing of their child, a finding that has also been reported in previous studies. Individuals looking for co-parents were often searching for someone with a good medical history and wanted a relationship they could describe as a friendship. We have since followed this research with our studies on elective co-parents.

Overall, across these studies, unregulated reproductive arrangements are characterised by increased autonomy and diversity, but also greater variability, uncertainty and the need for careful management of expectations and relationships. Our publications from this project can be found below:

V. Jadva, T. Freeman, E. Tranfield, S. Golombok, ‘Friendly allies in raising a child’: a survey of men and women seeking elective co-parenting arrangements via an online connection website, Human Reproduction, Volume 30, Issue 8, August 2015, Pages 1896–1906, https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dev120

S Graham, T Freeman, V Jadva, A comparison of the characteristics, motivations, preferences and expectations of men donating sperm online or through a sperm bank, Human Reproduction, Volume 34, Issue 11, November 2019, Pages 2208–2218, https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dez173

T. Freeman, V. Jadva, E. Tranfield, S. Golombok, Online sperm donation: a survey of the demographic characteristics, motivations, preferences and experiences of sperm donors on a connection website, Human Reproduction, Volume 31, Issue 9, September 2016, Pages 2082–2089

Vasanti Jadva, Tabitha Freeman, Erika Tranfield & Susan Golombok (2018) Why search for a sperm donor online? The experiences of women searching for and contacting sperm donors on the internet, Human Fertility, 21:2, 112-119, DOI:10.1080/14647273.2017.131546