SuperDads in the UK

Just on the heels of our last post about the new movie, The Delivery Man – a film about an anonymous sperm donor who has fathered over 500 kids,  similar multiple occurrences have surfaced via fertility figures released in the UK, but on a lesser scale. The figures reveal that exactly 500 anonymous donors have fathered ten or more kids each — a total of 6,111.  Of these, eight have fathered 20 children and seven even more.

The so-called ‘super-dads’ offered the only hope to infertile couples, said the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HEFA), which is looking for more volunteers to come forward. All have sired at least 10 children – while 15 have fathered 20 or more. But none of the men are obliged to give their identity to the children. Donors are not the legal father and have no rights or obligations unless they provide sperm through an unlicensed clinic. In addition they are only allowed to give their sperm to ten different women.

About 2,000 children are born every year in the UK using donated eggs, sperm or embryos. Sperm donors are also used to promote advances in the treatment of infertility and increase knowledge of serious diseases.