I-14: The Impact of Disclosure Decisions on Donor Gamete Participants: Donors, Intended Parents and Offspring

To discuss the psychological impact of disclosure decisions on donor gamete participants including gamete donors, intended parents, and the children conceived through these third party reproductive techniques. In the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase worldwide in the number of children born as a result of gamete donation. The growing demand for these programs has resulted in a trend toward greater openness and less anonymity in gamete donation and increasing calls for disclosure to offspring about their donor conception. Recent research on how parents of donor offspring make decisions about disclosure to offspring finds that even when couples disagree initially about whether or not to tell, they ultimately come to the same conclusion (whether they decide to tell or not to tell). Studies are also beginning to consider the psychological needs of gamete donors and how changing policies such as legislation giving offspring access to donor’s identity may influence intended parents’ disclosure decisions. While the psychological well being of donor-conceived children does not seem to be impacted by parents decisions to disclose or not, a recent prospective study concluded that families may benefit from openness about the child’s genetic origins. In conclution, the increasing numbers of participants in programs of third party reproduction around the world appear to have accelerated the trend toward greater openness. Gamete donors, intended parents and offspring do not appear to have been negatively affected by this change.