#Fertilitybook - Sperm Doner Uses #Facebook to Allegedly Father Over 800 Children

Mirror

Sperm donation is a very noble activity to engage in. Millions of women the world over, in relationships or otherwise, are for whatever reason unable to have children without outside help. Sperm donors grant them that ability, but it has to be said, you do find yourself wondering about what's motivating them. In many cases, it's money, regular sperm donation can net you thousands in some parts of the world, for others it's just the desire to help people and for some it's about spreading a broad genetic legacy.

It's hard to say exactly which of those last two is pushing Simon Watson, but it's certainly not money. Watson works outside of the system established for donors in the UK by the NHS, instead opting to work directly with his clients, charging a mere £50 for each pot of little Simons he gives away. These deals are done in person, often at a service station on the M1, so if your commute is somewhere between London and Leeds, there's an outside chance you walked right past him while this was going on, take a minute to think about that.

The co-ordination that takes place before the handover, however,  is done on Facebook. Yup, that's right, no cloak and dagger about this. Watson posts sexual health certificates on his page every 3 months, and answers any questions the recipients might have through messaging. Once both parties are satisfied, the meet is set up so that Watson can take the money and pass along his "magic potion pot". I'm both glad that I didn't come up with that term and horrified that Watson did.

In some senses, what he's doing is laudable, applying for donated sperm is a long, laborious process and is prohibitively expensive for many, costing anywhere from £500 and £1000 per donation in the UK, so if the first batch doesn't work, you could quickly find yourself out by thousands of pounds. That being said, doing it the way Watson is offering is a dangerous game, those who buy his sperm only have his word, and the word of his former clients that he's legit, and even beyond that, if others follow his example, it could very easily increase the risk of the spread of both STIs and hereditary diseases.

Watson's reasons for donating this much sperm are his own, but if you ask me his time would be better served trying to form a trustworthy, independent service for donation which works within the same price range and guarantee to a fault that all the donors are clean and carry no risk of passing any disorders onto the children they help bring into the world.

There's already a black market for organs on Facebook and while selling sperm independently is neither illegal nor anywhere near as risky (although still potentially life threatening), it is still abhorrently unwise to engage in a service like this without some kind of system in place which can assure the safety of both the client and the hypothetical client junior. Facebook cannot provide that.

Callum Davies

Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF

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