TORONTO - 3246 plays the trumpet, enjoys judo and was a nationally rated chess player in university.
But perhaps the most important detail on his five-page bio is this: “3246 is a proven fertile donor.”
“I donate to share the joy of becoming a parent — a gift from my family to yours! I’m a husband and father of three with two boys and a baby girl,” he writes in an essay obtained by the Herald.
3246 is a Canadian sperm donor, but he’s also an endangered species.
Currently, there is only one national sperm bank in Canada. And that bank — nestled within ReproMed: The Toronto Institute for Reproductive Medicine — only had 51 active donors, including donor 3246.
Two clinics in Quebec do maintain a handful of donors, bringing the country’s total number of anonymous sperm donors to around 60, but those clinics restrict sales to their own patients while ReproMed sells coast-to-coast.
By some estimates, there is a need for donor sperm for more than 5,500 inseminations per year in Canada, and 3,000 of those are for lesbian couples.
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Article: 27th September 2013 www.calgaryherald.com