Sperm donors no longer bank on anonymity

Mr. Tipton sees the new British law as a reflection of changing intellectual fashion. Currently, openness is in fashion, he says, pointing to a trend toward greater disclosure in adoption. Twenty to 30 years ago, that was not the case. "I don't think these changes are made on the basis of any empirical evidence," he says. "That evidence is hard to get."

Last year the Sperm Bank of California studied 29 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 who had been conceived using a donorwho had signed an identity-release form. "All [the teens] said they felt loved and felt wanted by their family," says Dr. Greenfeld, an associate professor at Yale Medical School.

Asked what information they would like about their donor father, 96 percent said they wanted a photograph, and 89 percent were interested in his current circumstances. Nearly 70 percent wanted to know about his health, and 65 percent wanted to learn about his family history. Eighty-six percent reported that they were likely to request his identity release. Two-thirds thought they would want a relationship with their donor, says Greenfeld.

Not all donor offspring want to know who their father is. Cynthia Semon of Sherman Oaks, Calif., was 12 when her parents explained that she and her sister were both conceived through anonymous sperm donors.

Only twice did she think she might like to know her biological father's identity. The first time came in a seventh-grade history class, when students had to write about their family tree. "I felt a bit of a dilemma about not having that genetic information," Ms. Semon says. "But ... I went with my [nonbiological] father's family tree."

The second time came when she was about 20 and dating older men. "It did dawn on me, perhaps I'm dating the donor," she recalls. Today she has no interest in knowing him.

"My [nonbiological] father is my father," Semon says. "So many things I hold dear in my life come from him and what he has shared with me."

Cheryl Stein of Brighton, Mass., whose 14-year-old son was conceived through a sperm donor, also favors anonymity. "Having a third party out there who is identified, how does this person fit within the context of your family constellation?" she asks. "It does in some way potentially interfere with the existing relationship."

At the Xytex Sperm Bank in Atlanta, donors have the option of being identified. Among 110 current donors, 20 have agreed to have their identities released. Among women receiving sperm donations, half are interested in knowing the father's identity and half are not.

"There are a lot of couples who want an ID-release donor," says Holly Fowler, a spokeswoman. "It's not so much that they want their child to meet the donor. That's not the objective of the program. The objective is so that when the child reaches 18, he can get the most updated medical information. But there are also people who select an ID-release donor so their child can meet the donor."

Pacific Reproductive Services, a sperm bank in San Francisco, pays higher fees to donors who are willing to be known than it does to those who remain anonymous. Sherron Mills, executive director, supports openness. But she does not think it should be required by law. "Donors have a right to their privacy," she says. "Maybe their wife or their partner will object. Maybe it will cause problems in their marriage. The law could be intrusive for people who don't want to identify themselves."

In the US, where anonymity is still an option, Tipton emphasizes the importance of maintaining existing contracts. "The worst-case scenario would be forcing the identification of someone who donated saying they wanted to be anonymous," he says. "We are very concerned that agreements in effect stay in effect, unless all the parties concerned agree to the change."

Studies have shown that children who are told about their conception through sperm donation are well adjusted. Yet Ms. Fowler notes that some may have unrealistic expectations about how their donor is going to react when contacted. She offers a word of caution.

"We tell parents [of donor children], don't set your child up for something that may not happen," she says. "These donors are great guys. They're smart and wonderful people, but you don't know what their life circumstances are going to be 18 years from now."

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