South Australia database will help donor-conceived adults find biological parents

The state of South Australia has introduced an online database aimed at helping donor-conceived persons locate their biological parents. It’s the first system of its kind in Australia.

Through the South Australian Donor Conception Register, donor-conceived persons will be able to access information about their genetic backgrounds, including the names and birthdates of their biological parent or parents. This will include ‘donors’ who were originally promised lifelong anonymity; the creation of the registry required the state government to pass laws to override the anonymity guarantee given to those who ‘donated’ their sperm or eggs before 2004. If records exist of a ‘donor,’ he will be contacted by SA Health and given a 90-day warning before his name and date of birth are added to the online database.

He or she will also be asked if he or she is willing to be contacted by any child conceived using his or her ‘donor’ egg or sperm.

Advocates argue that the register will connect donor-conceived persons with life-saving genetic information while also helping them move towards healing from the trauma associated with learning how they were conceived.

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Damian Adams, now 50, was conceived using an anonymous sperm ‘donor’ who was paid to give his sperm to a couple he didn’t know. Adams grew up knowing he was donor-conceived, but even though he didn’t have to “deal with having my world turned upside down as the majority of other donor conceived people have,” he said it “doesn’t mean I didn’t suffer trauma from these losses.”

“I did suffer from not knowing my family, I did suffer from not knowing my heritage, my place in the world and where I come from,” he said. After years of searching, he was finally reunited with his biological father, who introduced him to his half-brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. “We all lament the lost years, the lost family milestones, those shared experiences that other families get to enjoy.”

This is one of the primary ethical concerns surrounding ‘donor’ conception. Children are being created with the intention of denying them access to a relationship with at least one of their biological parents. Unlike adoption, which seeks to heal a wound, creating children via ‘donor’ gametes creates the wound and the trauma on purpose.

Greg Otto, who ‘donated’ sperm in the 1970s, is upset about the new database, as he does not wish to be contacted by his biological children. He was paid “$50 to $100 a shot” and said that while he agreed that any children could request his information to inquire about health conditions, he did not want his identity shared.

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“It’s a simple matter of privacy — if I want to see these people, I’d go and find them if I did, but I have no inclination at all to know who they were, what they did, what they became or anything else,” he said. “I simply made a donation of semen and I had been guaranteed at that time that there would never be a release of the names and other details of the donors.” He said he wouldn’t have ‘donated’ his sperm if his anonymity had not been guaranteed.

“I just don’t think it’s anyone’s business to know who’s donated sperm; if they don’t want the sperm, don’t take the sperm — if they want the sperm, there needs to be specific conditions to maintain the privacy of the donor if that’s what the donor wishes,” he said. “Anything could happen — I’m not happy with it at all, I think it’s a retrograde step and it’s an unnecessary step.”

It is a necessary step, however, for children created through third-party conception who have a right to know who their biological parents are and what their genetic background includes.