Choosing Donor Conception
Many people turn to donor assisted conception--using the help of sperm, ovum, embryo, gestational surrogate--in the course of creating a family. Donor assisted reproduction (DAR) has been available for decades, and its popularity grows, here and around the world, every year. There have been different attitudes concerning DAR, in the US and around the world, specifically about openness with children and anonymity of donors. Currently, there is a worldwide shift away from anonymity, motivated in part by easily accessible DNA tests that give all of us the possibility of knowing about our genetics. Individuals who learn about their donor conception as adults are speaking out to encourage all families to share this information with young children. As is the case with adoption, children need to have information about how they came into this world; children and adults will vary in their interest in their origins. Individuals (even young children) can distinguish the important difference between a donor(s) who is a genetic parent and the parents who have raised them and also find meaning in knowing more about their genetics, and the individual(s) and their families who are connected to them through genetics.