The Ethical Sperm Bank: An All-Open Sperm Bank. An Idea Whose Time Has Come

A cultural phenomenon is growing these days in the world of gamete donation. The voices of the donor-conceived are growing louder and clearer, and the vast majority express that knowing or having known the identity of their donors is better than not knowing, psychologically-speaking. From actively listening to them, we learn that having a complete sense of one's biological origins fosters a more whole identity, which can positively impact self-confidence (not to mention the importance of knowing one's family medical history). They also prefer knowing and connecting with their half-siblings, just as anyone would want to know their first-degree genetic relatives. Furthermore, the vast majority of surveyed donors show that they not only think about the children they've helped to create, but also indicate a strong preference toward being able to know them. The extant research corroborates these experiences (DSR, 2015).

Although anonymous gamete donation is banned in 11 countries at the time of writing, the United States still lags behind in making such an ethical determination. There are numerous obstacles to banning donor anonymity in this country...