HOW TO CREATE a better future for donor conceived people
- Prioritize the best interests of donor conceived people (DCP) in all matters involving donor conception.
- Recognize that gamete/embryo donors/providers have lifelong ethical responsibilities to DCP, as does the entire ART industry.
- Eliminate donor anonymity and support the use of known donors.
- Promote open and ongoing communication with children about being donor conceived.
- Support the interests of DCP in contacting and/or developing relationships with their genetic relatives, including donors and donor siblings, if they desire.
- Encourage parents of DCP to facilitate connections with their genetic relatives through donation.
- Promote creation of a central registry of all DCPs, gamete and embryo donors, and recipients, which helps connect DCP with donors and siblings.
- Require donors to provide complete and accurate information (including health, education, and criminal felony histories) and banks/clinics to verify this information.
- Ensure that DCP have accurate and regularly updated family medical history.
- Require that banks/clinics permanently maintain all records of donors, recipients, and resulting offspring.
- Enact reasonable limits on the number of recipient families (and thus the number of resulting offspring) per donor to avoid accidental incest and psychological harm to DCP.
- Require donors and parents to receive counseling that focuses on the best interests of DCP before they provide or receive third party gametes/embryos.
- Regulate payment/reimbursement of people who provide their gametes to third parties.
- Eliminate false and misleading gamete donor recruitment practices.
- Abolish and eliminate all fraud and negligence in donor conception.
Top image by Matt Noble on Unsplash