Egg and Sperm Donors' Motivations for Donating and Attitudes Towards International Use of Gametes, Family Limits, Information Sharing, and Contact
When:
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Venue:
Online
Why People Donate Eggs and Sperm - And How They Feel About the Families That Follow
This talk shares what a mixedmethod study found out about egg and sperm donors - why they donate, what worries them, and what they hope for.
Donors’ choices are often wrapped up in their own life stories and their own experiences with having (or not having) children. They often face big questions, including:
• How do they feel about their eggs or sperm being used in other countries?
• How do they decide how many families their donation can help?
• Who should get access to information about them, and when? This includes donorconceived children, recipient parents, the donors’ own families and children, and the donors themselves.
The talk also looks at how donors feel about the idea of meeting children born from their donation one day - what makes them nervous, what makes them hopeful, and what kind of contact they imagine.
All of this helps shape ongoing conversations about what’s ethical practice, and what good policy should look like in reproductive medicine.
Long description
Drawing on findings from a mixed-method study of egg and sperm donors, this talk explores donors’ motivations for donating and their perspectives on key ethical and regulatory issues in assisted reproduction in the UK. It begins by highlighting how donors’ decisions to donate are often embedded within their broader life histories and related to their own reproductive decisions.
The presentation goes on to discuss donors’ attitudes toward the international use of gametes and addresses how donors make decisions about family limits before donating. Additionally, the talk considers donors’ attitudes regarding the rights of different groups (donor conceived children/recipient parents/donors’ families and children/donors themselves) to non-identifying and identifying information and contact and their ideas on timing.
Finally, the talk considers donors’ feelings towards and hopes about future contact with children born from their donation. By analysing these perspectives, the study contributes to ongoing debates about ethical practice and policy development in reproductive medicine.
Dr Ellen Davenport-Pleasance (she/her) is a Research Fellow at London Women’s Clinic. She has a PhD in Psychology from UCL and a MPhil and BA in Psychological and Behavioural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. Her research has focused on various topics, including bisexual+ mother families, transgender and non-binary patients’ routes to parenthood, and donor conception. Her current research at London Women’s Clinic focuses on egg and sperm donors’ experiences and perspectives, including how egg donors talk about egg donation with others, their mental health, and their attitudes to policy.
Contact name: Grace Halden
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