Germany's sperm bank plans leaked

Germany is planning a central sperm donor database to make it easier for children to use their legal right to find their biological fathers. Donor children's associations say it's overdue, but have some concerns.

The German government is finally making good on its promise to the children of sperm donors by setting up a central database to make it easier for them to find their biological fathers.

Health Minister Hermann Gröhe's draft law, shown to DW but not yet published, includes a plan to create a central database of the names and addresses of donors whose donations resulted in a birth.

Sperm donations have been collected in Germany since 1970, and according to the Spenderkinder Verein ("organization for donor-conceived children"), over 120,000 sperm donor children have been born since then, and more than a thousand more are born each year. The constitutional court ruled in 1989 that they have the right to know the identity of their biological fathers, but in practice this is often impossible because many clinics delete their records after 10 years - the minimum period that...