“Receiving semen from an unknown man and self-injecting it with a syringe” ... Pregnancy spreads in Japan through ‘sperm trading’

[Financial News] Peer-to-peer transactions are on the rise in Japan in which people obtain sperm from men they meet through online matching and inject it themselves without going through a medical institution. But with no legal safeguards to regulate them, adverse effects such as sexually transmitted infections and identity fraud are occurring one after another.
According to a report by Japan’s NHK on the 27th, cases of people directly exchanging sperm through dedicated matching sites have been spreading in Japan recently.
In these transactions, a donor leaves semen collected in an antimicrobial container at a rented space, along with a needle-free syringe, and a woman picks it up and injects it into her body herself. The procedure is intended to avoid direct sexual contact, but it takes place without testing by a medical institution, raising concerns about the risk of infection.
One matching site that touts itself as “one of Japan’s largest” has as many as 7,000 men registered as sperm donors, with 100 to 200 new members joining each month. Users search for donors by education, height, appearance and other criteria, but submitting identification and undergoing STI tests are merely optional.
One reason peer-to-peer transactions are increasing is the high barrier to entry in Japan’s existing medical system. Japan’s official system of donor insemination (AID) is limited to legally married couples in which the husband has azoospermia. NHK noted that, as a result, unmarried women, sexual minorities and couples facing male infertility who find the costs burdensome are left outside the system and turn to peer-to-peer transactions.
Local cases of harm resulting from the lack of oversight are also increasing. In addition to harm from sexually transmitted infections, disputes have arisen over donors misrepresenting their marital history or education and demanding sexual acts without consent. Cases have also been identified in which sperm donors face claims for child support from women.
The right of children born through anonymous donation to know their origins has also become an issue. Children who grow up without knowing their genetic roots report feeling confused about their identity, but in Japan the actual situation cannot be accurately assessed because anonymity has been maintained as a matter of practice for decades.
Efforts to legislate in this area have stalled. A bill on assisted reproductive medicine was submitted to Japan’s Diet last year, but disagreements over issues such as the scope of guarantees for a child’s right to know their birth origins prevented deliberations from beginning, and the bill was scrapped.
NHK reported that public debate is needed on how society should respond to the demand for having children that the existing medical system cannot accommodate, and how it should protect the rights of children yet to be born.
[email protected] Seong Min-seo Reporter