Collecting a Semen Specimen in a Morally Licit Manner

Many fertility laboratories will insist that you must collect the semen specimen at the laboratory by masturbation to avoid factors that can affect the sperm. Reducing the variables such as time to analysis, temperature changes, and contamination with other substances is important, but expecting the man to go into a room at the lab with a cup and a magazine is not dignified. To protect the dignity of the man and the sanctity of the marital act, Catholic ethicist has recommended a specific way to collect. After explaining the purpose of this method however, even non-Catholics recognize the inherent value in using it.

Maintaining a high moral bar for sex is clearly challenging, but just because this is difficult and we are prone to come up short, it does not mean we should not continuously strive for a higher ideal. Moral sex must not separate the unitive from the procreative purpose of marital intercourse and supporting anything other than this is a slippery slope. Obviously this limits moral sex to a man and women who are married. But it goes further than that and insists that the sexual act is mutually self-giving, fosters a closer relationship between the spouses, and is open to the possibility of life. Since we know that ALL acts of intercourse are not capable of resulting in conception, this means that the couple do not do anything that INTENTIONALLY prevents conception. This would require that the man’s climax does not completely prevent the deposit of semen into the woman’s vagina.

     For semen analysis, it is also necessary to collect a representative sample of the man’s ejaculate. Therefore to meet this requirement and to be moral, collection is done by using a perforated seminal collection device (SCD). A SCD is essentially a condom that has been tested to confirm the brand is not deleterious to sperm. Prior to placing the condom on however, one small hole is poked in the  condom with a sterile needle. This act of faith is enough to change the intent of the act and allow for the possibility of conception, although most of the specimen will be collected. Therefore a unitive and potentially procreative act of intercourse occurs. Because this is best conducted in the couples private home, we recommend using a laboratory that has a protocol allowing for shipping of the specimen, or it can be transported within 30 minutes to a local lab.

After collection, the condom should be carefully removed, and the contents transferred to a specimen cup pre-warmed to body temperature. If the specimen has formed a viscous clot and is difficult to remove, hold the condom close to the body for 15-30 minutes and it should liquefy. Patients should always note if problems occur, or if more than 30 minutes is involved in the collection and transfer of the specimen. During collection, processing, or transport, the specimen should be protected from contamination with other materials and exposure to sunlight. Also temperature should not go above body temperature or cool to rapidly. Some protocols will require the specimen be cooled down to refrigerator temperature for shipping but this should be done gently and slowly, avoiding quick temperature changes.

     In the future, hopefully there will be better ways to assess fertility of the man. This could involve a variation of the post-coital test. At the current time however, the post-coital test is poorly standardized and is not quantitative, so intercourse using a perforated condom is the best method.