'E-baby' on the way thanks to online sperm bank

NEWS Proving there's now very little you can't buy online, a UK couple have conceived a child using an online sperm bank, after their GPs refused to help. The lesbian couple from Liverpool have been able to conceive thanks to online sperm bank ManNotIncluded.com. Jaime Saphier and Sarah Watkinson purchased sperm from the ManNotIncluded website at a total cost of £830, and Saphier is due to give birth in January 2004. The site allowed them to search for a donor on the database, selecting a candidate based on criteria such as preferred race, eye colour, height and weight. In a separate story, a second, heterosexual, couple are expecting to have the service's very first baby in the coming week, according to a report on the BBC. Eighteen other couples from around the world have reportedly conceived babies using sperm purchased through ManNotIncluded. While ManNotIncluded was set up to cater specifically for single women and lesbian couples, sperm banks in general are abandoning their previous practices and setting up online. The Sperm Bank of California, for example, has stopped publishing paper copies of its quarterly newsletter in favour of setting up online. Sperm Bank director Alice Ruby said the decision recognised the dominant trend in the industry: "Almost everyone does (the donor selection) online now," she said. Online sperm banks have accelerated the process of finding sperm for many women, and ManNotIncluded said it has been a benefit to gay couples throughout the world who had previously been refused help from their local GPs. Jaime Saphier told the Liverpool Echo: "It was fantastic. Everyone was really helpful and we found the whole process simple." ManNotIncluded is understood to be planning to launch in Spain and Germany.