Establishment of registry; testing of donors; penalties.
Del. Code tit. 16, § 2801
in effect(a) The Department of Health and Social Services shall establish a registry of all sperm banks and tissue banks operating in this State. All sperm banks and tissue banks operating in this State shall register with the Department of Health and Social Services by May 1 of each year. Any person, hospital, clinic, corporation, partnership or other legal entity which operates a sperm bank or tissue bank in this State and fails to register with the Department of Health and Social Services pursuant to this section shall be subject to a fine of $5,000.
(b) All donors of semen for purposes of artificial insemination, or donors of corneas, bones, organs or other human tissue for the purpose of injecting, transfusing or transplanting any of them in the human body, shall be tested for evidence of exposure to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and any other identified causative agent of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) at the time of or after the donation, but prior to the semen, corneas, bones, organs or other human tissue being made available for such use. However, when in the opinion of the attending physician the life of a recipient of a bone, organ or other human tissue donation would be jeopardized by delays caused by testing for evidence for exposure to HIV and any other causative agent of AIDS, testing shall not be required prior to the life-saving measures.
(c) No person may intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or negligently use the semen, corneas, bones, organs or other human tissue of a donor unless the requirements of subsection (b) of this section have been met. No person may knowingly, recklessly or intentionally use the semen, corneas, bones, organs or other human tissue of a donor who has tested positive for exposure to HIV or any other identified causative agent of AIDS, except that this subsection shall not apply to the recovery and use of organs or other anatomical gifts as authorized under federal law for research and/or transplant from a donor who has tested positive for exposure to HIV where the intended recipients have also tested positive for exposure to HIV. Violation of this subsection shall be a class E felony.
(d) For the purposes of this section, “tissue bank” means any facility or program that is involved in procuring, furnishing, donating, processing or distributing corneas, bones, organs or other human tissue for the purpose of injecting, transfusing or transplanting any of them in the human body.
Source: DE Code (Official Site)URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title16/c028/index.htmlFetched: 6/28/2026