Known Sperm Donors Are Now “Sexually Intimate Partners” In California

Another day, another new piece of legislation recognizing modern families! The governor of California recently signed a new bill into law that would define known sperm donors and sperm recipients as “sexually intimate partners” – even when the donor and the recipient have not had sex with one another. The new definition of “sexually intimate partner” in California is defined as “a donor to whose sperm the recipient has previously been exposed in a nonmedical setting in an attempt to conceive.”

What does this mean for parenting partners in CA?  This is significant given the current FDA requirement that sperm needs to go through rigorous testing before it can be used at a medical clinic to impregnate a woman.  More specifically, it means that women who attempt at-home inseminations with their donor, but then find they need medical assistance to conceive (by IUI or IVF), can use their same donors without an additional level of testing, since the donors will already be classified as the women’s “sexually intimate partners” even though they’ve never had sex.

You can find the language of the legislation here.