If you are trying to get pregnant using a known sperm donor, you should obtain a Sperm Donor Agreement, which will memorialize all your intentions so that future fights between you and your sperm donor are preempted.  You and your sperm donor can negotiate any arrangement that works for you. You can get creative and negotiate arrangements tailored exactly to your lives, such as an agreement that the sperm donor will be allowed to attend your child’s high school graduation or an agreement that the sperm donor will receive an annual email update about the child every Christmas.

At a minimum, here are some of the things that your Sperm Donor Agreement will cover:

• Whether donor’s parental interests, rights, and responsibilities terminate at time of donation
• What medical and genetic information is disclosed by sperm donor to you and whether sperm donor will take an STD test, at your expense
• Whether sperm donor will avoid high risk sexual activity during the period of donation
• Your right to make all medical decision-making related to both the pregnancy and the child
• Whether you will inform donor if/when you get pregnant, if/when any pregnancies ended in miscarriage/stillbirth/abortion, and if/when a child is born
• A provision that you will accept any resulting children, notwithstanding congenital or other abnormalities
• Whether you or the donor is requesting confidentiality, and whether you will share donor’s identity with the child
• Whether the donor’s sperm may be cryopreserved to be used for your future attempts at pregnancy
• Whether the donor will inform you of any other future donations or children
• And much more.

While there are many benefits and reassurances to using a known sperm donor, problems can arise too.  It is best to preempt conflict and fighting by executing a thorough Sperm Donor Agreement with your known donor.