Since the 1980s, the FDA has applied a strict ban on anonymous sperm donations from sexually active gay and bisexual men. This process would exclude any man who reveals having had sex with another man over the previous five years in the screening. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that the FDA is considering reversing this outdated policy. Considering the significant advances in LGBTQ+ rights over the past few years, it’s surprising that this 1980s relic has continued all the way into 2024.
For comparison, this ban may sound familiar to anyone who has donated blood in the past four decades. Similar restrictions and screening questions have been imposed to prevent blood donations from men who have sex with other men (described in the public health domain as “MSM”). These regulations also extend to anyone, irrespective of their sexuality, who has sex with a person falling under the MSM category. However, due to blood shortages, these regulations have been gradually relaxed, starting with reducing the MSM screening requirement to a one-year abstinence period in 2015 and finally eliminating the MSM restriction altogether in 2023.
In relation to sperm donation, due to a less urgent need, there has been slower progress in reforming these screening requirements. However, the current screening procedures for blood donation give us a sense of what the new targeted screening process might look like for anonymous sperm donors.
Canada, which is commonly viewed as more progressive than the U.S., has also upheld these sperm donation restrictions. Nevertheless, they recently announced a revision of their sperm and egg donor suitability requirements, which will go into effect on May 8, 2024.
The MSM donation stipulations were initially implemented at the peak of the AIDS panic in the 1980s. According to Dr. Cassandra Roeca, a fertility specialist with Shady Grove Fertility in Colorado, this policy lacks adequate scientific support. Likewise, Sara Kraner, general counsel of Fairfax Cryobank, one of the largest sperm banks globally, contends that the FDA’s rigorous disease testing and screening requirements, which already target risky sexual behaviors, suffice in terms of patient safety.
Therefore, it seems that medical ignorance of the 1980s is finally catching up to the present era, albeit belatedly.