Psycho-Social, Ethical and Legal Arguments for and Against the Retrospective Release of Information About Donors to Donor-Conceived Individuals in Australia

Abstract

In the February 2011 report on its inquiry into the past and present practices of donor conception in Australia the Australian Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee called for the introduction of legislation to regulate donor conception in all jurisdictions that do not have it in place ‘as a matter of priority’. They further called for the establishment ‘as a matter of priority’ of a national register of donors to provide for donor-conceived individuals to be able to access identifying information about their donor. The Senate Committee left open the question as to whether the legislation and central register should have retrospective effect. This paper focuses upon that question. It shows that arguments concerning the privacy, confidentiality and anonymity of some donors who may wish to remain anonymous are outweighed by the manifest injustice faced by those donor-conceived individuals who are denied access to such information, as well as their families and donors who wish to exchange such information.

Keywords: donor conception, release of identifying information, genetic information, assisted reproduction, ART