Every day, news of someone who is trying to conceive or has achieved a positive result through an unconventional method appears in groups with hundreds of participants on Facebook and WhatsApp.
Home insemination, the way chosen to have the baby, is not recommended by doctors, poses health risks, but grows driven by the economic crisis and social networks.
The issue has reached Justice: in recent months, courts in several parts of Brazil have released decisions on the registration of babies born through insemination carried out at home, without sexual intercourse. Homoaffective couples formed by women who want to have children, but cannot afford artificial insemination, are the ones who most seek the home procedure.
The method is also used, to a lesser extent, by heterosexual couples, in which the man has a fertility problem, or by single women who wish to have children, but do not have partners or money to pay for the insemination procedure at a clinic.
understand the practice
Home insemination is a way to get pregnant without sex or help from doctors. The couple seeks a semen donor, who collects the sperm. The genetic material is then placed in a syringe and injected into the body by the woman who wants to become pregnant. Among the risks of the practice are the risk of infection and transmission of diseases.
Restaurant manager Tatiane Maria dos Prazeres, 35, became pregnant in August 2021. She and her wife, nurse Thaiza Souza, 28, wanted to have a baby, but could not afford the R$12,000 charged for an assisted reproduction clinic. . They contacted a man – already known on the internet for donating semen.
“He would go to our house and only charge for gasoline”, says Tatiane. In a bathroom, the donor collected the semen and then handed the full syringe to the women, who performed the insemination in the bedroom. There was, she says, no physical contact between the man and them. The procedure was repeated three days in a row – Tatiane became pregnant and the baby was born in April.
most requested
A Facebook community already has more than 40,000 participants. There are also WhatsApp groups with dozens of contacts and even TikTok and Instagram accounts created by both sperm donors and women who had their children through home insemination.
The positive results of some end up encouraging other couples. It is also common for experienced sperm donors – and with high pregnancy rates – to be even more in demand.
Donors say they only intend to help women. In general, they claim that they do not recognize children as their children, nor do they wish to claim paternity. Couples who seek these donors also say they want to avoid future ties. Agreements are made in informal conversations or, in some cases, by signing paper commitments, without legal validity.
Home insemination is not supported by any legislation in Brazil. There is, therefore, no rule prohibiting the practice. The charge for genetic material is vetoed by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM). Men who donate say they only ask for help with travel costs or tests requested by couples before insemination, such as tests for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
In groups on social networks, however, there are reports of women who were surprised by men who presented themselves as donors, but wanted to charge for semen or intended to force sexual intercourse. The “temptresses”, as women who want to get pregnant are called, seek to warn each other about “false donors”.
Judicialization
Precisely because it is not provided for in any rule, home insemination has been debated in court. The cases brought to the courts concern the registration of children born under these conditions: after all, who should these babies be registered under whose names?
The National Association of Registrars of Natural Persons (Arpen) explains that there is no law providing for registration in case of home insemination.
When the couple who performed the home insemination are two women, an imbroglio is created at the registry office: a rule of the National Council of Justice (CNJ) determines the presentation of a report from the fertilization clinic – which they do not have. Tatiane’s daughter, for example, was registered under her name only. In the registry office, it was not possible to include the registration of Thaiza and now the couple intends to take action to obtain double maternity.
Cases like this have become frequent, according to the Brazilian Institute of Family Law (IBDFAM), which pointed out, in a May opinion to the CNJ, an overload on the Judiciary to guarantee the right to registration in the case of homemade insemination.
The institute asks the National Council of Justice to revoke the requirement for a document from the assisted reproduction clinic to register the child in a notary’s office, so that the families of home insemination do not have to resort to justice.
“It takes time and harms the child”, says Maria Berenice Dias, vice-president of IBDFAM, who claims to still see economic discrimination, since couples who have access to clinics get the registration without having to appeal to the court. She mentions that the double registration is beneficial for the child, for example, for access to the health plan or for it to be protected in the event of the death of one of the mothers.
Traffic instructor Andressa Medeiros, 34, is awaiting a court decision in Santa Catarina on the registration of her 1-year-old daughter, born after home insemination due to lack of money. The procedure cost R$ 6: “the little pot and the syringe”. On the certificate, there is only the name of the mother who gave birth, despite Andressa having followed the pregnancy from the beginning. “Without paper, I’m nothing,” she says. The semen donor, she says, was summoned to participate in the hearing and explained that he was giving up paternity.
The CNJ does not have a deadline to decide on this, but asked for a position from other entities. The Association of Family Law and Inheritance (ADFAS) expressed its opposition last month because it understands that the end of the requirement for a report from the assisted reproduction clinic would encourage home insemination, which is harmful to collective health.
Scratchs
“By encouraging home insemination, in addition to the risk to women’s health, there is (risk) of disagreements and litigation between those involved. The child may apply for paternity of the donor if the insemination is homemade”, says the president of ADFAS, Regina Beatriz Tavares da Silva. In clinical procedures, the anonymity of the donor of the semen used in fertilization is protected.
Home insemination is also not supported by doctors. “Taking raw semen without any kind of processing and inoculating it in the uterus has medical implications that can bring a certain risk of infectious risk point, by STIs or other contaminations”, says Pedro Augusto Araújo, vice president of the National Commission of Human Reproduction of the Brazilian Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Associations (Febrasgo).
The risk, explains Araújo, is greater than in sexual intercourse without a condom because contamination can occur when handling the syringe. Also, if the semen is inserted directly into the uterus (and not the vagina), anaphylactic (allergic) reactions can occur.
He recalls that, in clinics, the genetic material is analyzed in advance, as well as the health of the woman who intends to become pregnant. “Insemination is a medical act.”
Due to the lack of control, there are still discussions about the possibility that children from the same donor will have a relationship in the future, without knowing that they are siblings on the father’s side.
high demand
Courts in several parts of the country, such as São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Goiás, Mato Grosso and Rio, last year judged double maternity actions in cases of home insemination. That is, they recognized that the procedure has been carried out and allowed the registration of two mothers on the children’s birth certificates.
“The demand is very high,” says lawyer Tatiane Velloso, a specialist in LGBT rights. In the last month alone, she has filed 15 such cases and there are others in the queue. Most of the cases he follows are of people who are unable to pay for fertilization in a clinic, but about 30% are couples who tried to conceive through artificial insemination, but failed and exhausted their financial reserves. “There are a lot of people doing it”, assesses Tatiana.
From a legal point of view, the lawyer explains that there are risks for both sides: the donor can apply for paternity and the couple can claim that the donor assumes the role of father – and starts to pay, for example, alimony. None of the cases so far have been frequent, she said. The high demand, she says, makes even donors seek legal support to try to protect themselves.
Source: CNN Brasil
