Sperm Banks Struggle to Recruit Black Donors and Other Donors of Color

Dynamite James

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A few years after her marriage broke up, Aisha Jenkins started thinking about having a baby on her own. She used a leading sperm bank whose catalog contained hundreds of potential donors from which to choose. But when Ms. Jenkins, who is Black, narrowed the search down to Black donors, only six remained.

“That can’t be right,” said Ms. Jenkins, a 46-year-old project manager for a software company who lives in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

When she realized how difficult it is to find a Black sperm donor, Ms. Jenkins said she expanded her search, adding, “I knew there were other colors in the spectrum that would give me a brown child.” She now has two daughters, ages 7 and 2 1/2, using different donors—one with Egyptian ancestry, the other with Indian ancestry.

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Mocha Single Mothers by Choice, last year, they reached out to sperm banks to ask: Where are all the Black sperm donors?

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Summer Sweetie · Mar 4, 2022 at 8:17 AM

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Cooper Surgical Inc., a unit of the Cooper Cos. Inc.

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Donors in high demand, such as Black men, Dr. Shamonki said, sell out at a faster rate than others “so you cannot replenish the catalog fast enough to meet demand.”

The sperm bank is launching a study this year to try to identify barriers to donation among nonwhite donors, with a special emphasis on recruiting more Black donors, Dr. Shamonki said. “We know we need to do something about this.”

The shortage of Black sperm donors is one of many disparities that Black patients face when seeking fertility care, including less access to trained fertility specialists, according to Michael A. Thomas, department chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and former chair of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force.

Mistrust of the medical system makes it more difficult to recruit Black donors, Dr. Thomas said, adding, “There is a fear many people have about what is going to be done with their sperm and eggs.”

Ms. Jenkins and Ms. McLeod said their search for Black sperm donors made them think about their own experiences with race. Ms. McLeod, who has a white mother and a Black father, said she thought about how her future children might look to the outside world when choosing the donor. “I am not the same color as my mom, and growing up that was hard. People asked if she was my nanny or my driver,” Ms. McLeod said. “When I thought of my kids, I didn’t want that to happen to us.”

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Summer Sweetie · Mar 4, 2022 at 8:17 AM

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Ms. McLeod used the same donor to conceive her two daughters, who are now 8 and 3.
Both women said Black friends offered to be their sperm donors, but the women didn’t want to co-parent. Ms. Jenkins and Ms. McLeod also didn’t want to search for donors through online groups, including some dedicated to Black sperm donors. They wanted to use sperm banks to test the donors’ overall health and sperm.


Ms. Jenkins said she carefully studied the features of potential donors’ childhood photos, including men who didn’t identify as Black. “I looked for men with deep olive tones, caramel complexion and dark brown eyes,” Ms. Jenkins said. “I did a deep dive into hair texture. My hair is textured. I like cornrows. I was looking for wavy, tightly curled hair texture.” She chose a donor who described himself as half-Egyptian, half-Irish to conceive her older daughter, and someone of Indian ancestry whose skin tone was dark brown to conceive her younger daughter.

“The world is going to see them as Black girls,” Ms. Jenkins said. “In my house, we are the standard.”
 

98Ntu

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Interesting.

I was always told growing up that black male sperm or the sperm of a dark skinned man was not desired as much as white male sperm. Now obviously this would be true for most non-black women. They wouldn’t want to raise a mixed-race-black skinned child by themselves because of the various optics of the situation.

However, it makes no sense that black women are struggling to access black male sperm. Perhaps, some of you industrious hustler brehs can find a way to create a sperm bank that largely supplies black sperm/caters primarily to black women. This is just strange, really. I suppose it is the logical conclusion of devaluing black sperm and such.
 
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Well not too many people are keen on giving your sperm to random women you don't know. I understand the need for this but I don't want to be responsible for my child to be brought into a world with some many unknowns :huhldup:

We see athletes and entertainers do it allllllllllllll the time. They just wanna insert the man syrup the old fashioned way :russ::shaq::yeshrug:
 

ORDER_66

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Hold up she had male friends willing to give her sperm but SHE said she didn't want to coparent?!:wtf: no wonder her marriage imploded:mjlol: she obviously can have a baby the old fashioned way but it seems she WANTS to be a single parent and have a baby by herself... :hhh: just selfish
 

mattw1313

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Hold up she had male friends willing to give her sperm but SHE said she didn't want to coparent?!:wtf: no wonder her marriage imploded:mjlol: she obviously can have a baby the old fashioned way but it seems she WANTS to be a single parent and have a baby by herself... :hhh: just selfish

both of them said that:francis:
 
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