Disclosure: I have a close friend who discovered through DNA testing a niece as a result of his brother’s sperm bank donations back 30+ years ago.
I saw this article last week- Genealogy websites should be BANNED because they ‘threaten the anonymity of sperm donors’, academic claims: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6949969/Genealogy-websites-forbidden-violate-sperm-donor-fathers-privacy.html.
Ancestry websites should be ‘forbidden’ because they risk sperm donors being contacted by their children against their will, an expert has claimed.
The genie is already out of the bottle. Most DNA companies allow a person to go private, but it’s a personal choice.
For me, Debbie Kennett of Cruwys News sums it up best
A genealogist at University College London, Debbie Kennett, told The Times the research ‘fails to recognise the rights of donor-conceived individuals’.
The lack of anonymity has resulted in a significant drop in sperm donors over the last few years.
My personal take is everybody considering marriage needs to do DNA testing to avoid problems with marrying somebody who potentially could be a half-sibling. There have been enough sperm donors in many countries to make the need to DNA test imperative. You have cases like this one – Half-Sibling Surprises from Fertility Clinic Doctor that are another reason to DNA test before getting involved with someone.
It’s also not including adoptions where the adoptions list single birth, but twins (one male, the other female) were born. I ran across a case of this a long time ago and will do a blog post on it in the near future.
