Texas Law (is lame).

Just wanted to include some background on the Texas law issues that we ran into, forcing us to change our plans, in case anyone runs into the same issues.

Texas law says that in order for a known donor to be legally considered a donor and not a father (with all the rights of a father), the insemination must be done by a physician. The problem with this is that the FDA prevents physicians from using fresh donor sperm. They don't outlaw it completely, you just have to get the sperm tested for diseases two weeks ahead of time and sign a contract saying that you know the risks of doing so (which are that some diseases can be present but not detectable yet). That is IF you can find a doctor willing to perform the procedure that way. Otherwise, as the FDA recommends, you must have the donor make several donations, test it, freeze it for SIX MONTHS, and then test it again before use. IF the donor's semen survived the freezing process, which apparently 1 in 6 men's sperm will not do. Another problem in Texas is being able to find a cryobank that is willing to work with known donors. There are several out of state, but the closest one to Texas is in Colorado.

Are we surprised that things are so difficult in Texas? Well, in the end I guess not. At first we were surprised and upset but now that we know, and can share this information with others, we are on to better things.