New laws in the UK are set to give children conceived by egg or sperm donation the chance to find their biological siblings once they turn 18.
A new voluntary register will allow brothers and sisters conceived using a gamete from the same donor will be able to trace each other if they both consent. It is believed that some donor-conceived people may have hundreds of half-siblings.
The law in the UK already allows children born as a result of donation to trace the donor.
The amended Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, the bulk of which comes into effect on October 1st, clarifies the information that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and licensed clinics can tell donors and donor-conceived people about themselves and their biological parents.
Many donor-conceived children have been deprived of knowledge about at least one of their biological parents, which many say is a cause of real anxiety and stress. Often the birth cert does not accurately record the identity of both of the biological parents.
The wide-ranging act also regulates all human embryos created in the lab, governs research on mixing human and animal material for stem cell research and extends the length of time embryos can be stored before use.
The new law has been controversial because it enshrines in law the concept of a two-mother family for the first time by allowing civil partners of women carrying a child conceived through donation to be registered as the legal parent and removes the legal reference for clinics to take into account ‘the need for a father’ when treating patients and replaces it with ‘the need for supportive parenting’.
Under the amended law, donor-conceived children aged 16 or over will be able to ask for non-identifying information about their donor – including height, eye colour, and hair colour – and will also be able to receive any message the donor may have left for them.
Donors will also have a right to find out if their donation has been successful.
They will be able to ask about the number of children born as a result of their donation, their sex and year of birth, the HFEA said.
Olivia Montuschi, co-founder of the Donor Conception Network, welcomed the new sibling register.
“Any way in which people who are related through donation can be aided to come together, if they choose to come together, is very welcome,” she said.
She added it would help some people to put together the stories of their lives through the emotional connections they have with their family and relatives.
Laura Witjens, chairwoman of the National Gamete Donation Trust, said she hoped many people would come forward and join the sibling register.
“People are curious about where they belong and identifying your siblings is just as much a part of belonging as knowing who your genetic parents are,” she said.
The new act also allows the HFEA to open its register to researchers, meaning they will be able access data about fertility treatments carried out in the UK since 1991. But information on treatments involving donated sperm or eggs will not be included.
