1.   But while some might regard donated eggs as the female equivalent of donated sperm, experts say that for a variety of reasons, the two cannot be equated.

2.   Since the AIDS screening became routine at fertility clinics there has been only one known case of someone contracting HIV through donated sperm.

3.   The Italian parliament has approved a draft law on assisted fertility that sets prison terms for doctors who use donated sperm to perform artificial insemination.

4.   The United States, in fact, has become a mecca for infertile foreigners who want donated sperm or eggs so they can try to have children.

5.   Experts have also hypothesized that fathers of children born from donated sperm might be more distant and might not fully accept the children as their own.

6.   However, studies indicate that it can be a blow to children if they find out late in life that they were born from donated sperm.

7.   Researchers compared IVF families, IVF families that used donated sperm, families with naturally conceived children and those with adopted children.

8.   The fathers of children made with donated sperm were just as involved in the lives of their children as the fathers of IVF youngsters, the study found.

9.   The new laws would only be applied to donated sperm and not to semen given by a husband of a couple seeking to have a child.

10.   There has been no scientific research on the long-term emotional health of children born from donated sperm.