Counselling couples and donors for oocyte donation: the decision to use either known or anonymous oocytes

Abstract

In order to avoid a long waiting period, the Centre for Reproductive Medicine of the Free University of Brussels suggests that couples in need of donor oocytes search for a donor among family and friends. Recipient couples can choose between two types of donation: known donation, i.e. treatment with the oocytes of the donor recruited by the couple, or anonymous donation, i.e. an exchange of the donor recruited by the couple with a donor recruited by another couple in order to ensure anonymity between donor and recipients. In total, 144 couples were counselled by a psychologist in the decision-making process with regard to the kind of donation to be used. Some 68.8% of the recipient couples preferred known donation. This choice was mainly motivated by reasons related to fears associated with anonymity, such as fear of the unknown origin of genetic material and the trust that couples had in 'their' donor. Almost one-third of the couples opted to use anonymous oocytes. The desire to establish explicit boundaries between the two families involved was the major motivation for this choice. Approximately 44% of the couples were willing to tell the child about the oocyte donation.

Disclosure decisions among pregnant women who received donor oocytes: a phenomenological study

“…Despite several reports that undecided parents voice more concern over how and when to tell the child (18,(28)(29), the undecided women in this study did not express this concern as influencing their decision. Because the women were early in pregnancy, concerns about telling the child may not be as paramount as when the child is actually present in the woman's everyday environment.…”

“…Recipient individuals selecting non-disclosure have reportedly placed more emphasis on protecting the child from stigma and voiced concern that there is no compelling reason to tell (18)(19)28,33). Only one woman who participated in this study indicated she was not planning to tell her child.…”

“…This, along with the small sample size may not have adequately captured other factors that influence disclosure decisions. Further research should include a larger, more diverse number of women, including men, who have also been significant in determining disclosure in other similar studies (17)(18)28). Also, the investigation did not capture disclosure decisions made by the women prior to pregnancy, nor did it address possible changes in the women's disclosure patterns made as a direct result of the pregnancy or over time.…”

“…The findings from this study support the importance of donor oocyte recipient's values and beliefs on disclosure decisions. Prior research has demonstrated that the right of the child to know is significant among disclosing parents (10,(18)(19)(28)(29). Less evidence exists about the influence of specific social and cultural factors upon donor oocyte recipient women's choice of disclosure; albeit, other investigators have demonstrated the importance of several sociocultural factors among other groups of individuals contemplating disclosure decisions (30)(31)(32).…”

Perspectives, experiences, and choices of parents of children conceived following oocyte donation

“…A number of studies undertaken in various countries have explored parents' views regarding disclosure to their donor-conceived children of the means of their conception. To date, most of the study populations relating to oocyte donation have been recipients of anonymous donation whose children have been aged up to eight years (Pettee and Weckstein, 1993;Weil et al, 1994;Söderström-Anttila et al, 1998;Baetens et al, 2000;Hahn and CraftRosenberg, 2002;Greenfeld and Klock, 2004;Klock and Greenfeld, 2004;Golombok et al, 2004Murray et al, 2006;Mac Dougall et al, 2007;van Berkel et al, 2007;Laruelle et al, 2012), although one recent Finnish study has included parents of children aged up to 14 years (Söderström-Anttila et al, 2010). These studies have revealed intended disclosure rates of between 26 and 81%, although not all parents indicating an intention to disclose will necessarily do so Golombok et al, 2006;Murray et al, 2006;Mac Dougall et al, 2007;van Berkel et al, 2007), and only three studies have included longitudinal data tracking parental disclosure behaviour.…”