THURSDAY, Nov. 11, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Openly identifying sperm donors doesn't seem to lead to problems for the donors or their biological children, according to a U.S. study in the most recent issue of Human Reproduction.
The study is the first to examine the emotions and experiences of adolescents conceived through "open-identity" sperm donors. All but one of the 29 children, aged 12 to 17, in the study had a neutral or positive response when they learned they'd been conceived using donated sperm.
More than four out of five of the adolescents said they would likely ask for their biological father's identity and attempt to contact him. However, few of the children considered their biological father to be an important person in their lives. None of the children said they wanted money from the sperm donor.
Most of the children who wanted to know the donor's identity and contact him said they were motivated by curiosity and by the opportunity to learn more about themselves.
"While it appeared that the children were very curious and eager to learn more about their donor, they were also concerned about respecting his privacy and not intruding on his life. This finding indicates that the stereotypical concern of offspring showing up on the donor's doorstep is inaccurate and does not reflect the intentions of the actual youths going through the identity-release process," lead researcher Dr. Joanna Scheib, of the University of California, Davis, and The Sperm Bank of California, said in a prepared statement.
She noted that there's a growing number of open-identity sperm-donor programs.
More information
The National Infertility Association has more about donor insemination.
