Disclosure of donor conception in the era of non-anonymity: safeguarding and promoting the interests of donor-conceived individuals?

• Published in: Human reproduction (Oxford) 2016-11, Vol.31 (11), p.2416-2420
• Main Author: Zadeh, Sophie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Donor Conception - psychology; Female; Humans; Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous; Male; Motivation; Oocyte Donation; Parent-Child Relations; Tissue Donors - psychology; Truth Disclosure
• ISSN: 0268-1161; 1460-2350
• DOI: 10.1093/humrep/dew240

Abstract This article responds to a debate article published in Human Reproduction earlier this year. In that article, the authors suggested that parents should be encouraged to disclose the use of donor gametes to their children given rapid and widespread advances in genetic testing and sequencing. However, there is an urgent need to engage with the assertion that in this context, telling children about their donor conception both safeguards and promotes their interests, particularly if such disclosure is motivated by parents’ anxieties about accidental discovery. Disclosure that is motivated by the notion of non-anonymity may also encourage parents to share misinformation about donors and encourage their children to have unrealistic expectations. Fertility professionals must remain mindful of these outcomes when discussing disclosure and the future implications of increasing access to genetic information with both prospective and current parents. It is strongly advised that future discussions about the end of donor anonymity are not conflated with the debate on disclosure.