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Donor-conceived children looking for their sperm donor: what do they want to know?

A Ravelingien1, V Provoost1, G Pennings1

  • 1Bioethics Institute Ghent, Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.

Facts, Views & Vision in Obgyn
|April 23, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Donor-conceived individuals desire donor identity for diverse reasons, including medical history, self-understanding, and family connections. Motivations vary significantly, impacting the perceived importance of genetic information.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Medicine
  • Genetics
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Donor conception is a growing area of assisted reproduction.
  • Offspring's desire to know donor identity is a complex psychosocial issue.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the multifaceted motivations behind donor-conceived individuals' desire to identify their sperm donor.
  • To understand the varying importance attributed to genetic heritage.

Main Methods:

  • Inductive thematic analysis of first-hand accounts from donor-conceived individuals.
  • Data sourced from empirical studies and donor conception support networks.

Main Results:

  • Identified seven distinct objectives for seeking donor identity: medical history, roots, life completion, trait understanding, self-assessment, rectifying wrongs, and ancestral mapping.
  • Observed significant variation in the weight individuals place on knowing their donor.

Conclusions:

  • Motivations for seeking donor identity are diverse and not uniformly weighted.
  • Individuals hold varied and sometimes deterministic beliefs about the role of genetics in identity formation.
  • Assessing individual motivations is crucial for understanding donor-conceived offspring's needs.
Abstract

Keywords:
donor conceptiondonor searchingdonor-conceived offspringidentityopen-identity donation

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