Warnock changes mind on donor anonymity

Baroness Mary Warnock, who chaired the 1984 government inquiry into human fertilisation and embryo research that led to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in 1990, has recommended that the law be changed to allow children who are conceived using donated sperm to trace their biological fathers.

Baroness Warnock, who said in 1984 that 'egg or semen donors should remain anonymous and should not know the identity of the couple they have helped' has called on the Government to amend the law protecting a donor's anonymity. In 1984, she believed that fewer people would be willing to act as donors if their anonymity was not protected. But now she believes that as well as some medical reasons for children to know who their donor 'parents' were, there are important social and cultural reasons too. Having seen evidence from some Scandinavian countries, she said, she was now not convinced that donor numbers would significantly reduce if anonymity was removed.

Currently, at the age of 16, a person can ask the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority if they are genetically related to someone they intend to marry. At the age of 18, they can ask whether they were born as a result of donated gametes. Some basic information about donors is kept, but no identifying information can be given out. The Department of Health is currently undertaking a consultation exercise on whether donor anonymity should remain and exactly what information should be available to children conceived as a result of donations.