This gay cancer patient is being stopped from leaving his sperm to his partner
A gay man who has cancer has been told that he cannot legally place his sperm in a sperm bank for his partner to use at a later date.
Logan Morton was diagnosed with Leukemia in April last year and as part of his treatment, he must undergo chemotherapy, which he was told would leave him infertile.
Cryos, the biggest sperm bank worldwide. (Photo by HENNING BAGGER/AFP/Getty Images)
The 22-year-old from New Zealand was given the option to freeze his sperm for future use before starting the treatment, however, as he started the process he came to realise that his partner, who is male, would not legally be able to use his sperm.
Morton was told that unless he donated his sperm to a female, then his sperm would be destroyed.
However, Morton wants to know that if he cannot win his battle against cancer that his current boyfriend can still have their kids if he chooses to.
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Fertility Associates is the fertility treatment organisation which has told Morton that his partner could not have access to his sperm.
Dr. Mary Birdsall, the chairwoman of the group, said that they feel “terrible” for Logan and that they need to focus on updating the current policy.
She said: “We really feel terrible that Logan was offended because we see ourselves as being an organisation that works really hard to meet all of our clients’ needs.
“It’s just that society is becoming more complicated in terms of reproductive options that are available and we just need to move with the times.”
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Morton has pled with the organisation to allow him to be an exception, however, Fertility Associates abides by the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology (HART) Act 2000, which covers sperm donation, and it was not written with LGBTQ+ couples in mind.
Morton explained that he is not sure if his partner will want to have his kids in the future, but they don’t want to rule that option out.
“Whether I would have chosen to write my partner’s name in there or not I’m not sure.
“We would have had that discussion, it was the fact that I couldn’t and I’m sure there are other people in the situation who would very much like to who are unable to.”
The clinic pledged to update the police as soon as possible.
Morton added: “Obviously I’m thrilled that it’s been brought to their attention and they are willing to update the form and adapt their policy and definitely recognise they are working within legislation like they have to so I guess it boils down to an issue of the legislation needing updating, doesn’t it.”
