California's Stem Cell Agency

The United States leads the world in exporting cars, plastics, pharmaceuticals, and — apparently — sperm.

In a piece for Slate about Canada's fertility crisis, journalist Ruth Graham wrote that Canadian parents-to-be often turn to their southern neighbor for help with a massive sperm deficit.

They're not the only ones, though. At the end of the piece, Graham notes that "America is the biggest exporter of sperm in the world."

This estimate comes from a 2013 piece in the Verge, which notes that, while most domestically produced sperm stays in the US, international demand is rising.

And we have American freedom to thank.

No, really: Sperm donation here in the US is a sort of "legal Wild West," according to The Verge, since the government doesn't regulate them beyond requiring basic illness screenings. Plus anonymity is not only permitted, but commonplace.

Contrast that to Canada and elsewhere, where a donor may have to agree to make his contact information available to any potential children once they reach the age of majority.

The UK is a prime example. In 2005, the country passed a ban on donor anonymity. Three years later, The Guardian reported that fertility treatments there dropped sharply, since men preferred to limit the chance they might be eventually be contacted by future offspring.

If a sperm donor can't be paid or anonymous, then what's the point? Many would argue there isn't one, which is maybe why Canada has a paltry 60 sperm donors in a country of 35 million people.

So if you're looking for a little help in the conception department, American sperm can seem like a good option. All that genetic diversity in US sperm banks mean that mothers have a wide variety of options, down to a donor of the same ethnic or racial group — a pretty good niche, considering our largest competitor in the sperm donation market is Denmark.

A Dewar of frozen sperm donations. Shutterstock Ordering US sperm from another country is surprisingly easy.

Head to the website of the sperm bank, choose your desired characteristics (blue eyes or brown?), and hit the search. Add your desired daddy-to-be to your shopping cart, and check out.

The bank then freezes your sample with liquid nitrogen and ships it using a thermos-like container called a Dewar.

This may be another reason why the US leads the sperm-donation market — it's all just a few clicks away.

However, there's always a fleeting chance you won't get the guy you thought you signed up for.