The Irish Times has featured the stories of three different donor-conceived women, each of whom suffered traumatic experiences because of the circumstances of their conception and who think donor-conceived assisted reproduction (DAHR) should be banned. Alana Newman from Louisiana, USA, said her birth circumstances made many people happy: the sperm donor, the agency who made it possible and the recipient. But it did not make her happy. After being abandoned by the father who raised her, she went to Poland looking for her real father but was met with hostility and an outright refusal for any further contact. In the UK, Dr Joanna Rose was eight when she found out her father was not her real father. Years later she won a High Court case that led to a ban on donor anonymity in the UK. Rose, however, got no apology, reparation or reunion with her genetic family. Following a “tip-off” as to the identity of her donor-father, she tried to make contact with him but was met by legal threats. Stephanie Raeymaekers in Belgium found out by accident at the age of 25 about the circumstances of her conception. Later, she found out her mother had been impregnated by a “sperm cocktail” and one of her sisters has a different sperm-donor father to her. All three of Newman, Rose and Raeymaeker are now actively campaigning on behalf of donor-conceived children, helping them share their stories, find their origins, and working to ban donor-assisted human reproduction. Dr Rose has addressed meetings of The Iona Institute.
