The Underground Market for Sperm Donors

There's a growing underground market for sperm donations. Unfortunately, what you see may not always be what you get:

What drives the men to donate? The commercialization of sperm banking is what drove Ted (not his real name), a 51-year-old former commercial donor and self-declared sperm donation advocate, to start donating on the Yahoo Group “Free Sperm Donors.” “It shouldn’t be about money,” he said. “Blood isn’t about money. Livers aren’t about money. No payments should be exchanged just because you’re transferring human cells back and forth.”

Ted believes that since more serious money can be made from the commercial sperm banks, donors, especially cash-strapped college students, are given more financial incentive. With the possibility of making thousands of dollars to donate, there is also more incentive for them to leave out vital details in donor interviews and exaggerate their profiles.

Read more about the gray market for sperm donations here.