Pressure Builds for Open-Identity Sperm Donation in the US

By Kate Johnson, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today. Nov 14/08

Studies of people conceived with donated sperm suggest that many do not
support the practice of anonymous sperm donation. Roughly a third of people
who know they were conceived by open-identity sperm donors make a request
for the donor's identity by the time they turn 20, according to the world's
first study on this subject. However, it is likely that other offspring will
make the request at an older age, predicted Joanna Scheib, Ph.D., a
professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis. "Genetic
relatedness is important to these offspring and there was some urgency for
this group to learn the identity of their donor within the month that they
turned 18, when self-identity is developing," she said at the annual meeting
of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. "But there is likely to
be two kinds of requester. If there is any analogy to the adoption
literature, there will be another group who will be looking for information
when they are older, with children of their own."

The findings add perspective to the changing landscape of sperm donation in
the United States, said Dr. Scheib. Currently most U.S. donors are anonymous
and most offspring are not told how they were conceived, "but
identity-release programs are on the rise, with about one-third of U.S.
programs offering this option to offspring once they reach adulthood," she
said. Pressure from donor-conceived offspring to eliminate sperm donor
anonymity has contributed to this change worldwide, with some European
countries legislating against anonymous sperm donation altogether. The
United Kingdom implemented such a law in 2005.

Dr. Scheib's study included 142 offspring, ages 18 through 25, who had been
conceived through the open-identity sperm donor program at The Sperm Bank of
California. Among participants, 125 had been informed about their means of
conception, and out of this group, 39 (30%) had requested to know the
donor's identity. The majority of them (82%) had made the request as soon as
they turned 18, and all but one of them asked for the information before age
20. Female gender was the only significant predictor of desire to know the
donor's identity (P<0.05), with 59% of requesters being female. However,
family structure also appeared to be an influence -- 44% of requests came
from participants raised by single women, compared with 34% from those
raised by lesbian couples, and 20% from those raised by heterosexual
couples. At least half of adults went on to contact and meet their donor,
reflecting interviews at information-release.

Another study presented at the meeting suggested that desire for identifying
information about sperm donors is also important to offspring conceived via
anonymous sperm donors. The study included 85 volunteers from an online
support group for donor-conceived offspring. Most participants (86%) were
conceived with sperm from U.S. sperm banks, and were between the ages of 30
and 40, said study investigator Patricia Mahlstedt, Ed.D., a psychologist
from Houston Baptist University. The vast majority -- 90% -- had received no
identifying information about their donor, although the same percentage
wanted it. And almost 60% of the participants believed all sperm donation
should allow identity release.

"They hope that providers such as sperm banks, physicians, and nurses will
come to regard sperm donation as a positive option, with no need for
secrecy, and that they will encourage the use of donors who provide
identifying information," said Dr. Mahlstedt. Disclosure about the nature of
the participants' conception via anonymous sperm donation usually occurred
at, or after age 18, she reported. Although 40% of participants reported
feeling "good" or "very good" about their means of conception, about a
quarter felt neutral and about a third reported "bad" or "very bad"
attitudes. "It did surprise us there was no significant correlation between
when offspring learned about their means of conception, and how they felt
about it, because we in the mental health field believe that it's to the
offspring's advantage to talk about these issues early," she said.

Wendy Kramer, who founded and manages the Donor Sibling Registry, an online
database of almost 23,000 sperm donors, donor-conceived offspring, and
parents, says delayed or non-disclosure of donor conception is potentially
damaging for children. In a study she conducted with a Cambridge University
team, most people who are told in adulthood report feelings of confusion and
betrayal compared with a third of children told at age 11 or younger. When
contacted about Dr. Scheib's study, Kramer agreed that, although interest
about donor identity often peaks at age 18, there is another peak later in
life. "Many donor-conceived offspring say that they only had a mild
curiosity until they had kids of their own. It was at that time that their
desire to know their roots became significant."