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A judge took the unusual step of naming a parent in a family court case to warn about the risks of unregulated sperm donation. Robert Charles Albon, who advertises his services online under the name Joe Donor, claims to have fathered more than 180 children.
Albon took a same-sex couple to court as he wanted parental rights over their child, conceived by syringe injection with Albon’s sperm.
In the judgment – made in 2023 but published recently – Jonathan Furness KC called Albon a man who “seeks to control” and said there was a public interest in naming him so that women could “understand the risks of becoming involved with him”.
While UK fertility clinics are regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, private sperm donations like Albon’s fall outside its oversight – but they’re cheaper than the alternatives.
