ON THE ATTITUDES TO AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Available to Purchase

Technological innovation has opened up the possibility of reproduction through non‐traditional methods. Once it was only possible to have children through direct sexual intercourse. Those seeking to bear children would therefore adhere to a traditional form of the family or would form a one‐off contract or liaison with some person who abdicates responsibly for the child after birth. The latter method could be used simply for the sake of having children but appears to function as a means of providing children where there is a problem with conception in a traditional family. The available alternatives involve the artificial bringing together of reproductive elements without direct human contact. In the traditional family structure, depending on the problems faced, artificial insemination by partner (Al) or artificial insemination by donor (AID) can be used. In the United Kingdom AID is provided administratively rather than through the market and the normal expectation is that it is a means of sustaining the traditional family. Donors of sperm receive a small fixed fee and there is an attempt to match their physical characteristics with those of the would be father they are deputising for.