Ethics

[SCPL]

One of the most fascinating things about this story (in my opinion) was the exploration of the ethics surrounding anonymous sperm donation and donor-conceived children. Despite hearing stories in the news from time to time about people connecting with their donors and their siblings - and seeing commercials for a recent TV drama, Almost Family, in which donor siblings unite - this is a topic I've never really thought much about until reading this book.

With so many commercial DNA testing kits on the market these days, the anonymity that was always a hallmark of sperm donation seems to be a thing of the past. This article from the Ottawa Citizen discusses the end to donor anonymity, the regulations (or lack therof) in Canada, and the fight of donor-conceived children to obtain rights to information about where they come from: https://bit.ly/34uKam9

One quote from this article says, "The basic human right to know where you come from should not be denied (to) people conceived through a medical procedure". Do you agree or disagree? Is it time for Canada to change legislation to ensure access to information for donor-conceived people? Should these people be given all the information about their donor, or just important health information?

Do you think donor-conceived children should be told the truth about where they come from by their parents? Should donors be limited in how many times they are allowed to donate?

Dani Shapiro immediately reached out (twice!) to the man who turned out to be her biological father. Do you think she was right in doing so, or do you think donors should be granted their privacy? What do you think you might have done in her position?

[Anne]

I think it's tricky. I completely understand people wanting to at the very least know their medical history but at this point at least, there are messy human relationships involved. People who may have donated when young, now might have families who know nothing about it. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't be contacted, but situations like that require forethought and quite a bit of tact.

I do think that having laws and regulations surrounding the issue should be looked at. These days, with technology, I think its irresponsible as a current donor to not consider that the child of your donation might try to find you. I find the topic similar to adoption, how some people are able to find out information and many others are left out in the dark. If donor information is made available, I could see people using the same argument for adoptions as well.

[SCPL]

Hi Anne,

Thanks for your comment. I agree - it is an extremely tricky situation, and every family will likely deal with things in their own ways. I wonder, if Shapiro's parents were still living, she would have been so eager to reach out so quickly to her donor? I can imagine this would be difficult for the parents who raised a child, as it would be in an adoptive situation as well. Like you, I see some similarities in the ethics around both of these topics.

I also agree that implementing some laws or regulations could be helpful for people navigating this difficult terrain. I can see how donors in years past, who thought they'd remain anonymous, could be surprised when their offspring contact them years later. However, current donors must (or should?) be aware that there is no guarantee of anonymity with the technology and testing available. I wonder if this is having an impact on the numbers of people choosing to donate?

I do think that people should have access to their medical history, and at least know a little bit about the person they "come from", but I also think regulations could help so that those who want to connect with their biological "parent" or children could, but those who would prefer their privacy could retain that while still having the necessary information made available to the donor-conceived person.