Comment: | The Donor Conception Network (DCNetwork) is a network of parents with children conceived with donated sperm eggs or embryos, adult offspring, and those contemplating or undergoing treatment.
As many as one in seven couples may find it difficult to conceive a child. For some of these couples, particularly where the male partner is infertile or carries a genetic disorder, donor insemination may be their only hope of having children. Similarly where the female partner cannot produce eggs, donated eggs are used. There are approximately 2,200 children born each year in the UK to women who have conceived following treatment with donated gametes.
For parents with children conceived in this way a major issue is whether or not to tell their children, other family members or friends. DCNetwork is a group started in 1993 by parents who had decided to tell their children about their origins and who came together to support each other - they consider that children need to grow up with the knowledge of how they have been conceived and that the secrecy which doctors used to suggest no longer represents the best advice. |
