New Scientist News uncovered a story about a boy who found the sperm donor who is his “father.” It is the future of gamete donation, no matter what you hear to the contrary – and despite the supposed standing of contracts preventing such contact:
LATE last year, a 15-year-old boy rubbed a swab along the inside of his cheek, popped it into a vial and sent it off to an online genealogy DNA-testing service. But unlike most people who contact the service, he was not interested in sketching the far reaches of his family tree. His mother had conceived using donor sperm and he wanted to track down his genetic father.
Trudo Lemmens is quoted as saying ethicists have not thought about these issues, but I am obsessed with this issue and have long argued even more expansively against the practicality of promises of anonymity. The problem is finally getting some anecdotal attention in the media. But it isn’t just a practical problem; even if it were practical to keep secrets on behalf of donors or parents, children have a right to know whatever they want to know about their biological origins.