A  survey of now grown children who were conceived with the aid of donor sperm revealed that many struggle with the way in which they were created. The Commission on Parenthood’s Future, who carried out this probe, says that more than half of their respondents felt uneasy about their conception. Most sperm donor children who took part in the survey say that, whenever they see someone on the street who looks like them, they can’t help but wonder if they are a blood relative. The vast majority of those surveyed are very much in favor of ID release donors, so that future sperm donor children will at least be aware of their biological roots.

Furthermore, many of those who were surveyed feel “weird” about having been conceived in a test tube, and dislike the fact that money was involved in their conception. The British Daily Mail interviewed several of those who took part in the Commission on Parenthood’s Future survey and a clear picture emerges from those interviews.

It looks like those who took part in the survey all have similar backgrounds. Conceived through IVF, most are now in their twenties. They were born into families with married parents, and often not told until their teens or even adulthood that they were conceived with the help of a sperm donor. Often, the parents themselves appeared to have big psychologist problems with the fact they used a donor. Many of those interview by the Daily Mail were told how they came to be in the middle of an argument, and battled identity crises for many years.

I understand how they feel. I don’t doubt that the lack of transparency would leave me feeling cheated, lied to, by the people who I thought were my parents. The Daily Mail does not portray the stories of people who grew up knowing they were made with donor sperm, or children of single mothers by choice.

The participants of the survey all seem to have been conceived through IVF, and the study disregards the numerous other insemination options out there. There is at-home insemination, and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), for instance. Nobody compels parents who used sperm donors to lie to their children, either.

I have no doubt that the stories of children whose parents were completely open and honest about the way in which their children were made would be slightly different. The biggest problem in this story seems to be deception, not sperm donors.

What do you think? If you used a sperm donor to conceive your children, when did you first tell them about this? Do you think that ID release donors help people conceived with donor sperm feel more secure about their identity? Were you conceived with the help of donor sperm? We’d love to hear your take on this story!