Even though they have never had the chance to do so, Emma Groenbaek and her parents would like to express their appreciation to a certain person. A complete stranger was instrumental in the formation of their family 26 years ago.
It was thanks to him that Emma’s parents were able to conceive a child. He donated his sperm to them.
Six years had passed since Henning and Ida Groenbaek began their childbearing quest. Following the discovery that Henning had a low sperm count, the couple started what Ida referred to as “an odyssey of different fertility treatments.” During this time, they attempted several rounds of in vitro fertilization using Henning’s sperm in combination with sperm from a donor, but they were unsuccessful.
They had almost completed the adoption process when Ida became pregnant through the use of donor sperm.
Even more impressively, Emma is employed at the Danish sperm bank that both of her parents visited throughout their fertility treatments.
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The Sperm Bank
Cryos International was established in 1987, and the company claims to have more than a thousand different sperm and egg donors available at any given time.
Customers who “can’t get children of their own” include heterosexual couples, singles, and lesbians, according to Helle Myrthue, the chief executive of the company, who was interviewed for the two-part CNA documentary titled The Baby Makers. The company has exported to over 100 countries, including Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Europe.
As birth rates in many affluent countries continue to fall and more couples experience difficulty conceiving children, the global prevalence of infertility continues to rise. It is interwoven with societal trends such as an increased singularity of focus regarding job and other life goals, as well as a deferral of entering motherhood.
The Baby Makers went to places like South Korea, which has the lowest fertility rate in the world at 0.81, and Israel, which is the most fertile country in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, with a fertility rate of 2.9. Both of these countries are featured in the documentary.
Fertility has become not just a rich sector in Asia but also a field in which researchers, medical professionals, and businesspeople are working to make scientific advancements and develop new products and services.
The fertility rate in Denmark is approximately 1.7, and somewhere between eight and ten percent of births are the result of some form of assisted reproductive technology.
Patients seeking reproductive treatment from other countries travel to the Nordic country. According to Dr. Bjorn Bay, a fertility specialist and co-owner of Maigaard Fertility Clinic, this is owing to “more liberal legislation” regarding egg and sperm donation as well as the abundance of experience possessed by its healthcare providers.
It is not necessary for a woman to be married or straight in order to get fertility therapy, for instance. They also have the option of continuing their fertility treatments at private clinics until the age of 46, which is an older cutoff than in some other nations.
