It is a victory, and the culmination of a long fight for children born from donated gametes. As of September 1, people born from a sperm or oocyte donation will be able, if they wish, to know the identity of “their” donor when they reach adulthood. A right granted by the bioethics law promulgated a year ago, which will now facilitate “access to personal origins”.
“This reform had become inevitable, because it accompanies an evolution of society”, estimates Dr Florence Eustache, vice-president of the French Federation of Cecos, the hospital structures in charge of managing gamete donations and medically assisted procreation (PMA). But in practice, what consequences will it have? What will it change for the children born of these gifts? Does it risk curbing donations when demand is stronger than ever?
What does lifting donor anonymity mean? What consequences will it have for them and for the children born of their gifts?
From now on, the donor of spermatozoa or the donor of ovocytes must first consent to the future disclosure of their identity to the children who will be born from this donation, if and only if they request it. In practice, at the age of majority, the child will have a choice: he will be able to content himself with accessing “non-identifying data” such as the age, physical characteristics, professional or family situation of the donor. Or, if he wishes, his complete identity.
For thousands of adults born via a donation, the search for the donor is a “fundamental personal quest”, says Alexandre Mercier, president of the association PMAnonyme. It can be a question of “putting a face on this man or woman, knowing to whom we owe his physical features, knowing his medical history, taking into account what we acquire through genes or education…”, details he. Everyone has “the right to know how they came into the world”, adds Adèle Bourdelet, from the Association of Children of Donation (ADEDD).
However, according to Dr Claire de Vienne, PMA referent physician at the Biomedicine Agency, it is not really a question of a total lifting of anonymity: the parents will never have access to the identity of the donor. Only the child will be able to, at his 18th birthday. And the donor will not be able to ask to know the child born of his donation. In addition, the new law has no impact on filiation: as in the past, no legal link can be established between the donor and the child.
What are the consequences for donations made before the entry into force of the law and the children born of these donations?
“Donations prior to September 1, 2022 will remain anonymous”, specifies the Department of legal and administrative information (DILA), placed under the authority of the Prime Minister. An ad hoc commission will be set up to help today’s adults who are looking for their parents. Persons born from a PMA before the law will be able to seize it so that it contacts their donor and questions him on his wish to communicate his personal information. If he refuses, the donation will remain totally anonymous and any remaining and unused gametes will be destroyed on a date set by decree. To the chagrin of The Matrikas Associationwho campaigns for equal access to reproductive health and non-discrimination in parental rights, and who wanted “the Cecos to be able to give applicants the choice of whether or not to receive an anonymous donation, and this , until stocks of anonymous gametes are exhausted”.
On the other hand, “donors who made a donation before this date will have the possibility, if they wish, to retroactively transmit to the commission their identity and their non-identifying information”, continues the DILA.
Sperm stocks, sometimes frozen for several years, may continue to be used for future MAPs, until a date that has not yet been set. “These gametes will be used until a stock of new donations is made up, specifies the DILA. It is therefore possible that children born by assisted reproduction in the coming months may not have access to the identity of the donor if the donations from which they come are prior to September 1st”.
How do associations advocating for PMA approach this lifting of anonymity?
“It’s a disaster, judge Laurence Monier, president of Celia Fertility Association. This risks leading to a collapse in donations when there is already a shortage of donors and PMA for all is accompanied by an extension of the deadlines for everyone. This risks dissuading potential donors: I know couples who have had to resort to sperm donation for male infertility and who, after having their children through ART, have undertaken egg donation. A generous and disinterested act, to give back to science what it had given them in a way. But all these people may no longer do so knowing that in twenty years, a future child may come knocking on their door. Thus, Johanna*, in her thirties, who donated oocytes in 2018, “reserves [sa] response” regarding the future lifting of his anonymity. “I am being asked to consent to something that will take place in such a distant future. I may have children myself at that time, it may have an impact on them, so it’s complicated to answer.
“In the end, all of this will be a big hit with Spain and other countries that will be able to continue to do their business around PMA, fears Laurence Monier. And penalize women and couples who do not have the means to afford PMA abroad”.
As soon as the law was discussed in Parliament, some were concerned about a possible deterrent effect for potential donors. According to an Ifop study commissioned in 2021 by Les Matrikas, “70% of those questioned would refuse to make a donation if their anonymity was not guaranteed”.
Does the reform risk leading to a drop in donations in France? Have the countries that lifted the anonymity of donors faced such a drop?
For several years, “the overwhelming majority” of donors who come to the Cecos say they are in favor of the future disclosure of their identity, reassures Professor Eustache. And for now, the announcement of an imminent change has not led to a drop in the number of sperm donors. On the contrary: they were nearly 600 in 2021, compared to 317 in 2019.
Will the situation change? According an impact study published by the Assembly in July 2019, “if a temporary drop in the number of gamete donors has been observed [à l’étranger] just after the legislative change in question, the trend then seems to reverse to rise again and exceed the initial figures. This was particularly the case in Sweden, Australia, Finland and the United Kingdom”.
In any case, the stakes are high, because gamete stocks must be constantly replenished. In addition, demand has recently increased significantly, the Biomedicine Agency reports: since the bioethics law expanded access to PMA in 2021, some 13,000 single women or couples of women have asked for it. benefit in nine months, compared to approximately 2,000 applications filed previously each year by heterosexual couples alone.
* The first name has been changed.