Making History: Colorado SB 22-224
As the sun rose on May 11, 2022, it brought the dawn of a new day for donor conceived people in the United States. The night before, around 10:30 p.m. MT, during a marathon Colorado State Senate session, SB 22-224, the “Donor-Conceived Persons and Families of Donor-Conceived Persons Protection Act,” passed unanimously.
With the bang of the gavel, Colorado made history by passing the first act of its kind within the United States—an act that would abolish anonymous egg and sperm donation. Under the law, for gamete donations made on or after January 1, 2025, donors would have to agree to the release of their identifying information, upon request, to any person conceived through their donations once that person turned 18. Other necessary regulations would kick in as well, including a limit on the number of families established per gamete donor.
The backdrop for Colorado’s action is this: Although similar requirements exist in other Western democracies, including Australia and the United Kingdom, in the United States, third-party assisted reproduction is a largely unregulated multi-billion dollar industry.