A culture of secrecy around sperm and egg donations has given way to greater openness, says fertility consultant Zeynep Gurtin
A culture of secrecy around sperm and egg donations has given way to greater openness, helped along by a key legal change
The opening up of new routes to having children is a wonderful thing. But as the practice of donor conception – using donor sperm, eggs or embryos to create a family – has become more common, the resulting ethical dilemmas are also becoming more complex. Crucially, though, many warmly welcome the important changes happening this year, whereby donor-conceived children reaching 18 will finally have access to identifying information about their donors.
Sophie certainly feels like this. She is a solo mum and conceived Henry, now six years old, using donor sperm in a fertility clinic. She has been talking to Henry, in age appropriate ways, about the method of his conception since before he could speak. Henry understands that a kind donor helped to make him and it is something they discuss “insignificantly and often”, although he is yet to ask questions about his particular donor.
As she tells me: “What matters most is not the structure of a family – the number or gender of the parents, their sexual identity, or whether they are genetically related to their children – but rather the quality of relationships within it.” She adds, “Not one of these families has been formed by accident – it turns out that the desire to be a parent goes a long way.”
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