Sperm Donation

A sperm donor only needs to provide semen about 1–3 times, and no medication or surgery is required beforehand, so there are no risks arising from drugs or surgery.

Because the donor must undergo related examinations and medical procedures during donation, the recipient couple may — within the amount set by the competent authority — commission the assisted-reproduction institution to provide the donor with a nutrition allowance or nutritional supplements, or cover the necessary examination, medical, time-loss and transport costs. A sperm donor who completes the donation procedure may receive NT$5,000; if the donor visits the clinic more than 3 times this may be increased at discretion, but the total for the whole donation procedure may not exceed NT$8,000.

Under Article 19 of the Assisted Reproduction Act, once reproductive cells have been donated the donor may not request their return. However, if the donor is later diagnosed or certified by a physician as having impaired fertility, they may request the return of reproductive cells that have not yet been destroyed.

Under the Assisted Reproduction Act, no legal relationship exists between the gamete donor and the child born through assisted reproduction. A child’s status is determined on the premise that the treated husband or wife consented to assisted reproduction using donated gametes; to protect the child and in good faith, the child is deemed legitimate. Relative to the Civil Code’s provisions on legitimate children, the Act is a special deeming rule for legitimate children, so no situation arises in which the child sues to deny parentage on the grounds that the legal father or mother is not biologically related, and thereby forces the donor to acknowledge the child. Hence there is no issue of “claiming lineage” on the basis of blood ties.

To protect public health and ethical values and to avoid confusion of bloodlines, assisted reproduction using donated eggs or sperm may not combine the sperm and eggs of relatives in the following categories: 1. lineal blood relatives; 2. lineal relatives by marriage; 3. collateral blood relatives within the fourth degree. The institution completes verification before using donated sperm to prevent such situations. The Act also provides that an institution may not simultaneously provide one donor’s reproductive cells to more than two treated couples, must stop providing them once one couple achieves a successful pregnancy, and must destroy them once that couple completes a live birth. In addition, because the legal status of a child born through assisted reproduction differs from traditional civil law, where prohibitions such as consanguineous marriage or adoption might arise, the child or their legal representative may apply to the competent authority for an inquiry.

The clinic only provides matching reference data such as blood type, ethnicity, skin tone, height and education; no other personal information about the donor is disclosed.

There are no special restrictions on everyday activity, but please keep a regular routine, get enough sleep and eat normally as far as possible.