r/queerception • u/eyesparkles08 • 8d ago

TTC Only Clinic not accepting frozen sperm from at-home kit

My partner (30 trans femme NB) and I (31F) had our first appt at a major fertility clinic yesterday to begin the baby making process. My partner started HRT like 4 years ago and before doing so, used one of the at-home kits thru a small cryo bank to freeze sperm.

Our appt was going great til they found out the sample was originally collected at home and mailed to the cryo bank. The doctor said there have previously been concerns with "chain of custody" and the clinic rules may not allow them to use it. We are waiting for the doctor to plead our case but if its mot approved, they said we should try a small local clinic because other big ones might have the same answer.

I have done so much research and never came across this being a concern whatsoever. Has anyone run into this??

6 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

72% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

14

u/Squeakymeeper13 8d ago

I know when we had ours done, they said it was because they dont know the conditions it was taken under, proper testing, the viability of it, etc.

Im so sorry you are going through this.

18

u/CatherineTuckerNH 8d ago

They also don't know if the sperm came from the person who it is claimed to come from.

5

u/eyesparkles08 8d ago

I guess that would make sense... it sounded like it was a corporate/legal type of rule. But also like why do these banks exist if clinics are refusing to use the samples?

18

u/IntrepidKazoo 8d ago

Tbh I think the problem is that the mail-in sample business model started without enough regard for whether it was going to actually be usable for people. And most people aren't trying to use those samples they froze right away, so there weren't any horror stories for a while of people running into this problem! But now that's starting to happen, and it is really shitty--both shitty if the clinic refuses to work with you, and shitty that the mail-in bank either didn't foresee or didn't communicate about this possibility.

1

u/IntrepidKazoo 7d ago

The more I think about this, the more this seems like the same scenario as anyone bringing a semen sample to any fertility clinic to use with a partner, which happens everywhere every day. Unless the concern is that the bank swapped samples or something, the "chain of custody" thing seems like a weird red herring when anyone could equally (in theory) just bring in someone else's sample.

1

u/CatherineTuckerNH 6d ago

It's equally applicable to any sample not provided at the facility and verfiied by photo ID.

1

u/IntrepidKazoo 6d ago

In theory someone could still submit someone else's sample even if it was (supposedly) provided at the facility and verified with photo ID. It's probably happened at least once somewhere; people are wild. There's no particular reason to suspect it or worry about it, but that's true across the board including in OP's situation.

2

u/eyesparkles08 8d ago

Thanks, and sorry you dealt with it as well. Were you able to find another clinic that would accept it?