Legal rights for egg and sperm donors

If you’re a sperm donor, you could be the legal parent of any child born from your donation.

Sperm donors

If you donate sperm through a Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) licensed clinic, you will not:

  • be the legal parent of any child born
  • have any legal obligation to any child born
  • have any rights over how the child will be brought up
  • be asked to support the child financially
  • be named on the birth certificate

If you use an unlicensed clinic to donate sperm, you will be the legal father of any child born from your donation under UK law.

Egg donors

If you give birth to a child, you’re always considered the legal mother in UK law even when using a donated egg.

Find out more about becoming a donor on the HFEA website.

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