Donor anonymity, or the right to know one's origins? (DOI: 10.2436/20.3000.02.21)

Autors/ores

  • Esther Farnós Amorós Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)

Paraules clau:

Genetics, biology, donor families, anonymity, secrecy, origins, right to know, assisted reproduction techniques, parentage

Resum

Taking into account a recent decree enacted by the Catalan government stipulating the procedure to provide information on a person's biological roots, this article examines the tension between the anonymity of the gamete donor and the child's right to know their origin. The analysis of legal systems that recognise this right for children conceived through donated gametes spurs us to further examine the hypotheses, quite widespread today, which consider traditional arguments for secrecy outdated. In this regard, the article also challenges the different treatment granted to adopted children and donor gamete children by legal systems such as Spain's. Beyond the possible conflicting rights of children, donors and parents, arguments provided by anonymity supporters, such as the moral damage resulting from disclosure or the possible link between disclosure and a decrease in the number of donors, should be also taken into account. However, these arguments require absolute empirical evidence, which is not currently conclusive. Alternatively, disclosure of the donor's identity is consistent with the needs of donor families and with a major trend in family law supporting the right to know one's genetic origin, dissociated from biological and legal parentage.

Key words: genetics, biology, donor families, anonymity, secrecy, origins, right to know, assisted reproduction techniques, parentage

Original source: Butlletí del Comitè de Bioètica de Catalunya, 15: 1-11 (2015)

Descàrregues

Les dades de descàrrega encara no estan disponibles.

Descàrregues

Número

Núm. 5 (2015)

Secció

Dret

Llicència

The intellectual property of articles belongs to the respective authors.
On publishing articles to the journal Catalan Social Sciences Review (CSSR), authors accept the following terms:
  1. Authors assign to Philosophy and Social Sciences Section (a subsidiary of Institut d’Estudis Catalans) the rights of reproduction, communication to the public and distribution of the articles published in Catalan Social Sciences Review (CSSR).
  2. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for the reproduction of all graphic material included in articles.
  3. Philosophy and Social Sciences Section declines all liability for the possible infringement of intellectual property rights by authors.
  4. The contents published in the journal, unless otherwise stated in the text or in the graphic material, are subject to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd) 3.0 Spain licence, the complete text of which may be found at  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.en. Consequently, the general public is authorised to reproduce, distribute and communicate the work, provided that its authorship and the body publishing it are acknowledged, and that no commercial use and no derivative works are made of it.
  5. Catalan Social Sciences Review (CSSR)  is not responsible for the ideas and opinions expressed by the  authors of the published articles.