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I’m So Glad We Found Him
Imagine finding your Sperm Donor thirteen years after having his baby and then falling in Love with him. Is that even possible? finding him that is, not falling in love. Evidently it’s very possible today, because that’s exactly what happened for Jessica, who says she never intended to track down her anonymous sperm donor, Aaron, responsible for her thirteen year old daughter.
The entire thing started when Jessica’s daughter, at the age of eleven, wanting to know more about her genetic heritage, asked her grandmother for a Christmas gift, a DNA kit to look into her genealogy. The results came back showing Aaron as a 50% parental match, as well as another match showing a potential half brother. Ultimately through the DNA kit and Facebook they were able to locate and connect with a larger family of half siblings.
THE LID HAS BEEN LIFTED
The current 2020 data reports that 78% of respondents had successfully identified their donor through direct-to-consumer (DTC) DNA testing. In fact, there are many reports showing an immediate match with a family of donor siblings. From the legal aspect in the UK, those born through donor conception after April 1st 2005, will be able to have access to identifying information of their donors from the age of eighteen. This includes the donor’s full name, his birth date, place of birth, and the donor’s recent address. However, it may be quicker for some to connect through social media such as the Facebook group We Are Donor Conceived, which allow donor conceived people to share their stories, find resources, ‘match’ and make contact with other searchers on their database.
In short, tracking down a sperm donor has not only become progressively easier, but has also increased in numbers, which brings us to the next chapter in discussing the loss of donor anonymity.
ONCE UPON A DONOR
Historically, sperm banks would select and screen donors with the understanding that they would not be found by their offspring. They essentially guaranteed anonymity to their donors and in most cases, the sperm donations were indeed anonymous. The anonymity landscape has changed dramatically with the rise of DTC DNA testing, allowing people to connect with previously unknown genetically related relatives, including some who had never intended on being found. This identification can happen from either offspring, donors, or family members. In 2016, approximately three million people had taken a DTC DNA testIng. In 2019, the major companies offering DNA matching services, had a total of over 30 million people in their registries, a number that is expected to grow to over 100 million by 2022.
THE DONOR CONNECTION
We are reaching the point where everyone will be identifiable using DTC genetic testing. According to Yaniv Erlich, the CSO of MyHeritage, a genealogy platform, only 2% of the population needs to have undergone a DNA testing for virtually everyone’s information to be represented in the data. But when we think about it, what else did we expect.
WHAT A FIND!
The changing of the UK legislation in 2005 will now make it possible for the first time, for those turning eighteen and born through donor conception, to have access to their donor identifying information by 2023. So when we think about the story of Jessica finding Aaron, her anonymous sperm donor after thirteen years and falling in love, could this become only one of the stories that may unfold as we move into 2023?