Infertility and donor conception: Pregnancy is just the beginning!

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Wendy Kramer

Donor Sibling Registry, USA

: Androl Gynecol: Curr Res

Abstract

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Since 2000, the DSR has connected more than 15,500 donor offspring with half siblings and their biological parents. Accordingly, they have been able to create and explore these new familial relationships and can also understand their ancestry and learn about their medical backgrounds. The DSR’s research, education and counseling services have been instrumental in creating momentum towards establishing positive reforms in the egg donor and sperm banking industries around the world. The infertility industry mainly focuses on achieving pregnancy, and not what happens afterwards. We ask: “What is in the best interest of the child to be born?” and wonder how we can best serve the needs of the people conceived via donor conception. The DSR has conducted many research surveys, hearing from thousands of donor offspring to find out what was important to them, particularly in regards to the nature of their conception, donor anonymity, and connection with donor relatives. The DSR has published more than two-dozen papers in peer-reviewed academic journals. Offspring believed that early disclosure was important. More than three quarters recommended that parents not use anonymous donors. Most participants were very interested in learning more about the donor and any half-siblings they might have. The responses showed a strong preference for more openness in the donor world. Almost 60,000 gamete donors, offspring and recipients in 105 countries have registered on the DSR, seeking to find those with whom they share genetic ties.

Biography

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Wendy Kramer is the Co-founder and Director of Donor Sibling Registry (DSR). She has co-authored 25 papers on donor-conception in Social Science and Medicine, Human Reproduction, Reproductive BioMedicine & Society, Facts, Views & Vision in OB/GYN, Reproductive BioMedicine Online (RBM Online), Advances in Reproductive Sciences, “Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research”, Fertility and Sterility, The Journal of Family Issues, Children and Society, and The Journal of Law and the Biosciences. She has reviewed abstracts for the ASRM and has been a peer reviewer for Human Reproduction and RBM Online. She was an Associate Producer on the 2011 Emmy nominated documentary Sperm Donor and on the 2013 MTV News & Docs, 6-part docu-series, Generation Cryo. She is an active Huffington Post contributor and has a BA in Communication Arts from Long Island University.