Assisted reproductive techniques through semen donation guarantee that the donor bears the closest physical resemblance to the future parents
There are different situations in which a semen donor must be used to help a woman become pregnant. This is the case of single mothers, couples formed by two mothers or a man and a woman with some type of male infertility problem. In all these cases, the same question is asked: who will the semen donor look like?
When using a treatment that requires a semen donor – in vitro fertilisation or artificial insemination– a matching is performed between the donor and the future parents. This way, the semen donors are selected based on their physical features and those of the future mother, in the case of single women, or those of her partner in the case of heterosexuals and homosexuals.
This is possible thanks to a phenotype study of the donor and the woman and her partner. In this way, a combination of physical features is determined, such as skin, the texture and colour of the hair and eyes of each of them.
Achieving the closest possible resemblance
In all cases, the matching process seeks to achieve the closest possible physical resemblance between the donor and the patient and her partner, in order to facilitate the integration of the future child into the family.
In this respect the Spanish legislation establishes that the responsibility of selecting the donors falls on the medical team, which must guarantee the closest possible resemblance in terms of phenotype and immunology between the donor and the woman receiving the semen and/or her partner.
The question is solved: in the case of single women, the donor who best fulfils the physical resemblance criteria with the woman will be selected. In the case of women with partners, the donor will be selected in accordance with the physical features of that partner, be it a man or a woman.
