Why donor candidates drop out or withdraw from the sperm donation process

To find out why donor candidates drop-out or withdraw from the sperm donation process.

The survey was completed by 36 donor candidates who withdrew or dropped out of the process. Applying was an impulsive decision for a small minority (22%) of the respondents. However, 41.7% already had some doubts when they initially applied and 38.9% had lost the motivation to continue. Almost 70% knew clearly why they had stopped or withdrawn from the process. More than half of the candidates (55.6%) had realised during the process that the social, ethical and personal consequences of the donation were more complicated than they had anticipated before the process. Around 40% thought that they might regret their donation later and the same percentage thought that their (future) partner might not agree with their donation. Practical issues such as the donation fee and the time and energy required to donate also influenced the decision of some respondents. Two thirds of the respondents thought that the sperm bank could not have done anything to keep them interested.

Withdrawal and drop-out are major causes of loss of donor candidates. Some of these decisions can be explained by misconceptions about the process of sperm donation or by insufficient prior consideration of the social and psychological aspects.