FAMILY‐MAKING BY AID Available to Purchase

Artificial insemination by donor semen is a relatively new practice: the first occasion was in 1884 in the U.S.A., and this was not reported until 1909 when an article appeared in Medical World. As in most cases the husband was azoospermic, i.e. sterile. Today, whilst this appears to be the most common reason for AID, there are others. Thus a genetically transmitted disease like Huntington's Chorea may be avoided by AID. But increasingly there are cases of men having had irreversible vasectomies, usually after having had a family, and following divorce and remarriage wish to have a child by the second wife. The numbers of couples having AID cannot be ascertained but in the U.K. it is supposed that there are over two thousand AID babies born annually, and the waiting lists at some clinics suggest strongly that numbers are increasing considerably.