Sperm donation offers women and couples a chance to conceive a child when no male partner is present, or when the male partner experiences infertility issues. However, donation is not the only option for welcoming a child into your life.
1. Adoption
Adoption allows you to welcome a child into your life, a child who already exists or will exist regardless of your decision to conceive and who needs a loving family. Adoption allows you to either rescue a child from poor living conditions or otherwise offer a child whose biological parents couldn't, for whatever reason, give the child a good life the chance of a better life. It takes one more child out of the orphanage or gives a child in the foster system the comfort of a permanent home.
However, one disadvantage of adoption over sperm donation is that you may not be eligible for adoption unless you're part of a heterosexual, married couple, depending on where you hope to adopt from. Another disadvantage is that you may not have access to your child's family medical history, whereas with donation, you should be able to access a comprehensive medical family history (and half of your child's family medical history may be your own).
2. Fostering
Becoming part of the foster care system allows you to welcome multiple children--one at a time or more than one at once, whatever you can comfortably fit into your life--into your home. You can provide these children with love and support, which they desperately need after growing up without a traditional family.
The advantages of this option is that you'll make a great impact on a child who desperately needs support, but the disadvantage compared to sperm donation is that you may not have the child during her entire childhood--in fact, you're unlikely to. Likewise, you may have difficulty dealing with the emotional and physical needs of the children in the foster care system.
3. Male Infertility Treatments
If you're part of a heterosexual couple, before you consider sperm donation, you may want to consider male infertility treatments, if you've determined that the infertility issue largely lies with your partner, and your partner otherwise has a fairly healthy family medical history. The types of procedures available to you and the success rate of these procedures depends on your partner's medical issues, but may include electroejaculation therapy, direct testicular sperm harvesting, hormonal treatments and transurethral resection. Some of these are surgical procedures, while others involve hormonal and medicated therapies.
Whether sperm donation or any of these alternatives is the best option for you should be determined only after you weigh the pros and cons of each procedure and you discuss your options with a fertility specialist. There is no right or wrong answer, only what you feel is best for you.
