INFORMATION SHARING IN SEMEN DONATION - THE VIEWS OF DONORS

The authors report on a comparative questionnaire study of semen donor s at two London clinics offering donor insemination (DI). Results pres ented here include donors' attitudes towards the storage of identifyin g information on the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's central register, the importance of anonymity when donating, feelings about bring traced by DI offspring, and views on the release of ident ifying donor information to mature offspring. Donors from the two clin ics were found to differ on some, although not all, of the above point s; in particular, donors from one clinic offered more support for the eventual release of identifying information to DI offspring. The discu ssion brings in the results of other studies and highlights the comple xity of the anonymity question. The authors conclude that some donors may be willing to move towards greater openness of information under c ontrolled conditions using the existing central register and a ''veto' ' system. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd