Opening the door for children to meet their egg or sperm donor: a new era in fertility practice begins this year

Carole Gilling-Smith explains how, later this year, 18-year-olds will be able to access identifying information about egg or sperm donors.

Should children conceived from donor eggs or donor sperm have the right to meet and know their donors? This was the question put to relevant stakeholders over 20 years ago by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The overwhelming majority of those consulted voted yes. They felt that the emotional and ethical benefits to children of being able to better understand and visualise their genetic origins would help them form a more solid framework around which to build their adult world and was regarded as a landmark move in UK fertility practice. As a result, in April 2005, the law around the identification of altruistic egg and sperm donors was changed and since then, all identifying information about egg and sperm donors has been securely logged on the HFEA donor register. 

Later this year, for the first time in UK history, the first donor conceived children since the law changed will reach the age of 18 and will be legally permitted to access identifying information about their egg or sperm donors and, if they wish, get in touch with them. This was not an option for donor-conceived children prior to April 2005 and is still not an option in most other countries that practice donor fertility treatments. No one really knows what those first few children who contact their donors will feel or experience, nor indeed how their donors will react, but fertility clinics like the Agora Clinic, along with the HFEA, have been very proactive over the last few months helping to prepare donors and their recipients for this moment and will continue to support and guide both to ensure the best possible outcomes for all concerned.

The process of accessing information about donors is known as ‘Opening the Register’. It will undoubtedly raise many feelings, not just in donor conceived children but in their parents and their wider family as well as in the donors themselves. Some may view this with excitement, others with apprehension and possibly fear and anxiety, but in a society where we now encourage more openness and transparency about fertility treatment, the longer-term benefits of this approach to donation are obvious. The wish to know more about ourselves is not just restricted to donor conceived children. Many adults, as well as children, who are not donor conceived, are searching to find out more about their genetic origins through DNA testing kits and online ancestry forums. Most of us have a natural curiosity about our genetic makeup and that it why it is so important that those conceived with the help of donor fertility treatments get the best possible information when they feel ready to ask for it.

Egg and sperm donation is no longer a rare occurrence in the fertility world and forms a significant part of our daily work at the Agora Clinic. Every year the HFEA registers some 2,700 cycles of donor treatments across the UK. For some couples, they have come to the end of their fertility journey using their own eggs or sperm, often after multiple rounds of failed treatments, and will only have a realistic chance of having a child if they consider donor eggs or sperm. For others, they have always known it is their only option, as they are in same sex relationships or maybe have no eggs or sperm due to medical conditions, surgery, cancer treatment or an early menopause. 

When donors don’t have to provide their identifying information to the future child, known as anonymous donation, they often feel less pressure, as is the case when people donate blood. This is why the change in the law around anonymity of donors in the UK immediately led to a marked fall in the number of people coming forward to become egg or sperm donors, and this is still the case. But the number of people who need donor eggs or sperm has risen year on year. This has led to long waiting times for those who need such treatment, as well as a rise in the cost of buying donor eggs or sperm for the majority as very few are funded by the NHS. It has also created a whole new fertility tourism industry where patients are encouraged to travel abroad for their treatment to countries that have a ready supply of anonymous donors. I always caution those considering this route to appreciate the potential emotional impact on their future child who will, as a result, be denied the chance of knowing more about their donor when they reach adulthood.

In the face of such a shortage of egg and sperm donors in the UK, I really want in this article to put those who give up their time to donate their eggs or sperm on a pedestal. They are true heroes! To give the gift of life in this way is one of the most extraordinary acts of human kindness. Due to the tight HFEA regulation around donation, donors are first required to complete a series of screening blood tests to be accepted and then must give up time for appointments to donate. In return they receive very little in the way of financial compensation, just enough to cover their expenses, so their gift is truly altruistic and admirable. They are only allowed to find out the number of children, if any, that have been born from their donation, the year they were born and their sex and can only donate to help create a maximum of 10 families. There is no permissible contact until the child becomes 18 and, even then, there may not be any contact from the child; it is just an option, one they may never take up. All donors and recipients are protected by law. Donors have no parental responsibilities and no legal rights over any child conceived from their eggs or sperm and the child’s parents are not provided with any identifying information about their donor, just characteristic information to help them choose the donor that is the best match for them.

At the Agora Clinic we are always looking to recruit donors and would encourage local businesses to raise awareness and support any of your employees who ask for time off to be able to donate the gift of life. Please get in touch if you want to find out more about donating to our Brighton Egg and Sperm banks. We are also on hand to support those looking to have egg or sperm donation treatments as well as parents of a donor-conceived children who may want to find out more about the Opening of the Register. Please contact us at the Agora Clinic www.agoraclinic.co.uk or 01273
229410 where one of our specialists can advise you.