Today we raise awareness about the right to Genetic Identity, which has been recognized by the United Nations.
Anonymous sperm and egg donation prohibit a person from having lifelong medical history updates, knowing their ancestry, and understanding exactly what parts of them are due to nature versus nurture. Anonymity leads to burning questions that are sometimes never answered. Anonymity is traumatic.
It is true that not all donor-conceived people want to know this information, just as not all people care about geneaology. But having the ability to access this information if so desired—and if necessary—is still a right that should not be denied. Anonymity takes away the ability and choice from a donor-conceived person from the very beginning.
Above is a collage of me with my closest genetic ancestors—my mother, father, and grandparents. Until three years ago, I only had half of this picture. And though I did not even know for 35 years that I was donor conceived, I always cared about my ancestry and wondered about the parts of myself that did not make much sense in context.
I am one of the fortunate donor-conceived persons who was able to identify my biological father by piecing the information together after a commercial DNA test. I have been able to access some of the information that was for too long denied to me—and denied to my children. But because of anonymity and the impact it continues to have by providing an excuse for genetic family to ignore my existence, my children and I are treated differently. And all of this was by design.
In this modern era, we know now how damaging anonymity can be to donor-conceived people. We need only look to the experiences of our adopted brothers and sisters to know that this trauma is not unique to us. We also now have generations of donor-conceived people who are sharing their stories openly to educate others, whereas this was not true when my parents made their own decision. Nevertheless, the recipient parents and donors of the past can choose to do better now, as my own mom has done by supporting my journey and sharing my grief over the continuing impact of anonymity.
We need governments, people, and the fertility industry to understand that Genetic Identity matters. Barring access to the basic biological building blocks of who we are as humans is inhumane and a violation of a fundamental right.
Medical doctors take an oath to Do No Harm. But by continuing to use anonymous donors, that is what they do to many of the people who are born from assisted reproduction technology. Governments play a role in this by failing to regulate the practice in any way, including the number of children who can be born of one donor and may never know of each other’s existence.
The time has come for #answersoveranonymity because #geneticidentitymatters.
Tiffany Gardner. Originally published to Instagram on May 30, 2021.
A Donor Conceived Adult 