Danish ethics council recommends ending anonymous sperm and egg donation

Denmark may soon abolish anonymous sperm and egg donation. The Danish Council on Ethics wants to remove this option. Fourteen council members voted to remove anonymity. Only one member voted to retain it.

Council chairman Christine Nellemann spoke about donor-conceived children. She said children have a right to know their biological origins. Denmark is one of few countries allowing anonymous donation.

Open donation is also available in Denmark. Open donation allows children to learn donor identities at age 18. Nellemann noted that DNA technology makes keeping secrets impossible. A relative taking an online gene test can break donor anonymity.

Health Minister Ida Auken invited parliament to discuss fertility ethics. Denmark and the US are the largest global exporters of sperm. There is currently no limit on pregnancies per donor across borders. Some donors father hundreds of children worldwide.

European experts recommended creating a unified European donor registry. They suggest an initial limit of 50 families per donor. This limit could later drop to 15 families.

Some specialists worry treatment costs will rise if donor numbers fall. However, Denmark currently recruits more donors than it needs locally. More parents and donors now prefer open donations anyway. The recommendation was reported by The Local.