Semen donors’ curiosity about donor offspring and the barriers to their knowing

Abstract

The article reports qualitative research findings which explored the meanings of kinship and genetic knowledge of fifteen pre-1990 semen donors in the UK. This is presented in the context of public and academic debates about the regulation of access to genetic information, genetic information as intellectual property and kinship knowledge, and the multiple ownership of genetic information. Semen donors in the UK traditionally were expected to take no interest in what became of their donations and those who did were considered to be unsuitable as donors. However, the present research reveals that men who donated in the past hold varied attitudes, including curiosity about how donor offspring have fared and what they look like. Whilst some donors would welcome direct contact with donor offspring, there are practical and emotional obstacles to satisfying their curiosity. Donors’ views reflect the varied understandings in the UK about the implications of genetic relatedness and the time and energy required to maintain and sustain relationships.

Keywords::

• Semen donors
• anonymity
• relatedness
• UK DonorLink

Acknowledgments

The research upon which this article is based was funded by grants from the ESRC 2001-2 Advanced Course Quota studentship: grant number 2001010541 and ESRC 2003-6 Studentship: grant number PTA-042–2003-00001, for which the author is very grateful. The article was written during an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship.

The author thanks the two anonymous reviewers for their detailed and helpful comments. Ethical approval was granted by the School of Social and Political Studies of the University of Edinburgh. The research methodology complied with the Ethical Guidelines for Good Research Practice of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and the Commonwealth.

Declaration of interest: The author was a sessional support worker for UK DonorLink at the time of the research.