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Lesbian and bisexual male-to-female transsexuals have the option to store sperm so they can later become parents with a partner. Here is a directory of sperm banks, basic information about the procedures, and my personal experience doing this.
If you transition you will lose the ability to have children. Even if you stop hormones, there may be irrecovable damage to your reproductive ability. If you're a childless MtF transsexual you might want to consider a sperm bank. If someday you make a life-long committment with another women, maybe you'll want children? Lesbian MtF transsexuals aren't the only transsexuals who can benefit from reproductive technology. Hetereosexual MtF transsexuals might want to consider eventually finding a surrogate mother. Hetereosexual FtM transsexuals might have donor sperm fertilize your egg and place the egg in your wife's uterus; that way both of you would share in the birth of your child! Gay FtM transsexuals might find a surrogate for your egg with your partner's sperm; that way both of you could contribute genetically to your child!
As with any industry, costs vary. Storing sperm is substantially easier than storing ovaries. I don't know about the costs of ovarian cryopreservation, but here's the cost information I gathered about sperm cryopreservation. The initial steps are the most expensive. You'll need to have bloodwork, pay for the cryopreservation process, and tests for the health of the frozen specimen. You can adjust the cost by deciding how many sperm samples you want to store, but you can estimate around $1000 (U.S. dollars in 1999). Then there's storage fees. Estimate about $250 a year until you decide to destroy the remaining sample. When you use the sperm, costs vary based on the reproductive health of your partner. Yes, it's all expensive. But I put it in perspective with the costs of electrolysis and surgery. Many years from now this will be a small part of all the resources I put into transitioning. But no price could ever be put on our future children .
My Experience Preserving My Reproductive Options: Preserving my reproductive options was one of the most emotionally taxing aspects of transitioning for me. Here is my personal story about how I got my sperm stored and how I got the list of sperm banks.
Sperm Banks in the United States and Canada: Here is a list of facilities that can cryopreserve your sperm for long term storage. The list is in alphabetical order by U.S state followed by the list of Canadian cryobanks. Please let me know if you know the contact information for cryobanks in other countries.
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