The Donor Sibling Registry connects half siblings conceived through donated eggs, sperm or embryos, promoting open communication and helping them form bonds. As unconventional conception grows, concerns arise about health histories, identities, and accidental incest. Some experts push for limits on the number of children conceived through donor sperm.
The Donor Sibling Registry is a US-based non-profit organization that brings together half siblings conceived with the help of donated eggs, sperm or embryos. The organization brings together people who have a desire to meet others who share a genetic bond with them. The group, founded in 2000, also stands as an advocate for children born through donation and their families, promoting open communication when desired by all parties involved, and helping them form bonds with half-siblings they didn’t previously know they had.
As the number of children conceived through unconventional means grows, more questions about their origins, their health histories, and even their identities are popping up in their minds. The founder of the Donor Sibling Registry said that most sperm donors, if they choose to come forward and meet the children their sperm donation has helped create, are involved in professional occupations, perhaps stemming from the fact that they have been recruited many sperm donors from universities and colleges. Others, however, are atypical, with one donor, for example, living in a trailer. He and his offspring gained some notoriety through a film about the Donor Sibling Registry and the one-on-one encounters he had with the children, who are now in their early 20s.
Some of the children who start out by searching for their donor through the Donor Sibling Registry end up forming strong relationships with the siblings they discover. Two sets of twins, for example, one in California and one in Georgia, have become close and communicate frequently. Some children discover the existence of dozens of half-siblings during their research with the Sibling Donor Registry and also notice their similarities, both physical and psychological.
On the negative side, experts are raising troubling questions about the possibility of accidental incest occurring between donor children who aren’t aware they have the same father. Experts also raise concerns about the possibility of spreading genetic diseases to a larger gene pool through donors who have sometimes contributed their sperm dozens of times. Some experts are pushing for a limit on the number of children that donor sperm can be used to conceive. In just one case, donor sperm helped conceive 150 children. Sweden, France and Britain have already imposed limits, but there are no legal limits in the US, although there are guidelines.
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