I Heart Rhian's Donor

Olivia Pratten is a 28 year old journalist.  She was  conceived by donor sperm in the '80's.  Things for couples and single women who needed donor sperm were very different then - and the prevailing attitude seemed to be don't tell anyone (including your child) that you used donor sperm.  Donors were truly anonymous, and recipients and children were told very, very little about their donor (including very scant medical information).

Ms. Pratten wanted to know who her donor was and she embarked on an odyssey that ultimately ended up in litigation.  The British Columbia Supreme Court handed down its ruling this week.  This article gives the basics, and links to the decision.

Sperm donor anonymity overturned by B.C. court - British Columbia - CBC News

 I read the decision.

I liked the decision. And not just because some of the players in the litigation had a direct hand in helping me conceive Rhian!

In a nutshell, the court found that the Provincial government discriminated against donor conceived children since donor conceived children were not provided the same protections as adopted children.  The Court found that donor conceived children and adopted children have many similarities with respect to not knowing who their biological parents are - and both groups should be afforded the same protections.

The upshot is that the Court struck down certain provisions of BC's adoption law, and gave the government 15 months to come up with a legislative scheme that also protects donor conceived children as well as adopted children.  Essentially - no more anonymous donors in BC.  And no more destruction of donor information by clinics, physicians etc.

I'm not exactly sure what that will look like now.  Until the legislation is in force we don't really know what will happen with donor anonymity.  Will it be enough for a donor's identifying information to be released upon a child reaching the age of majority?  Or will the identifying information have to be made available before conception, after pregnancy is confirmed, after birth, or some other time?  What about people that used anonymous donors previously and now want a second child with the same donor?  Will it be (can it be) retroactive?  Will it simply mirror the current provisions of the adoption act (of which I am not familiar)?  How will it apply to donors that are from a different jurisdiction (most donor sperm is collected at American Sperm Banks)?  What happens if a person/couple just hops over to Alberta or other province that does not have the same restrictions for their treatment?  Will the government appeal?  So many questions.

One of the things I completely agree with, is that it is not enough for fertility clinics to say that they already provide the protections sought by Ms. Pratten.  Things have changed, and they simply do not do business this way.

And that is exactly the problem.  Business.

It is a business.  And businesses go under all the time.  And sperm banks go under all the time.  And I imagine fertility clinics also do the same.  And in those circumstances what happens to all the information held by the clinics?  I don't know.  And I agree that their needs to be some governmental regulation in this area ensuring documents are not destroyed, and ensuring that donors that have agreed to consent to release their information when the children are of the age of majority - that the children are not deprived of that opportunity.  I hope that the new legislation will provide some certainty for Rhian should she decide (when she decides?) to search for her donor.

And of course - there is the obvious concern that men will no longer donate if they cannot be anonymous.  I have no idea how to address this.  I am so, so, so, grateful to Rhian's donor - for both donating, AND agreeing to have his ID revealed to her later on.  He will never be expected to parent Rhian, or support her - and from what I gather this is what potential donors fear most.  But by agreeing have his ID released to her later on he has given her a great gift.  She will have questions - and he will be the only one that can answer them.  There is of course, no guarantee that he will - but given that he has agreed to release his information - I'm hoping that won't change.

And should Rhian ever wish to contact him, and should she ever contact him - I can't wait to thank him with every ounce of my being - for giving me the greatest gift - one that only he could.  I love him for that.