When ‘sperm’ becomes ‘donor’: Transitions in parents’ views of the sperm donor

Abstract

Little is known about recipients’ views of their sperm donor. This study aimed to examine the possible transitions or consistencies in donor sperm recipients’ (DSRs’) view on the sperm donor over time. A longitudinal qualitative study of 19 Belgian heterosexual DSRs was undertaken. Interviews took place with both partners of the couple during pregnancy, at birth and 1.5–2 years after birth, and were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Recipients who intended to disclose exhibited a transition in their awareness of the donor from being of minimal importance to one who was increasingly seen as part of their family narrative. This was partly triggered by the offspring's life, remarks about resemblance and the socio-cultural context. The perceived position of the donor changed for most recipients from a threatening rival to a ‘distractor’. This change was supported by the emerging father–child bond and the confidence that stemmed from it. These observations were applicable to those recipients who intended to disclose their donor conception; for those recipients who intended not to disclose, little or no transition was observed. This study describes and analyses the transitions and consistencies in recipients’ views of the donor over different stages of the family life-cycle (pregnancy, birth, toddler stage) and could help the fertility clinics tailor their counselling to the specific stages of parenthood.

Keywords::

• transition
• donor conception
• sperm donor
• parents

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the men and women who generously shared their stories with us and without whom this research could not have been completed.

The authors thank Veerle Gilissen and Katja Servaes; midwives at the Leuven University Fertility Centre (LUFC) for their assistance in patient recruitment. Furthermore, they acknowledge the advice and comments of Hanna van Parys (HVP), UGent, as external auditor of the data analysis.

First author, A.I., acknowledges support from the Brocher Foundation for her stay at the Brocher Centre during which this paper was written. www.brocher.ch

This research has been made possible with the support of a project grant (number G.0594.09) of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.