British Public Backs Donor-Conceived Children's Rights to their Identity

• Information About Genetic History
• Information about Parents' Health & Medical Background
• Knowing Who Parents Are
• Openness about Donor-Assisted Conception
• Should parents be Given a Choice as to Whether Genetic History is Disclosed?
• Conclusions
• Toplines

Information About Genetic History

There is strong public support for the rights of children -- when they reach 18 -- to know the genetic history of their biological parents. Eight in ten support children having an automatic right to know this, and 62% agree that donor-assisted conception should only be offered if offspring are given the right to this information at the age of 18. By contrast, only 19% agree with the opposite statement -- that all parents should have a right to have children without telling them their genetic history (and a further quarter are neutral) -- whilst only 24% agree that donors should have the right to withhold this information when they donate eggs or sperm to help other couples conceive.

There is little difference of opinion, between those with children and those without, on children's right to know the genetic history of their biological parents. However, women are a little more supportive of children's rights in this issue compared with men:

• 84% of women agree with an automatic right for children to know their genetic history, compared with 77% for men
• 65% of women agree that donor-assisted conception should only be offered if there is such a right, compared with 59% among men.

On some issues, younger people and single people are more likely than average to express neutrality on both the rights of children to this information, and the rights of parents to withhold it. For example:

• those aged 15-24 are more likely than average to be neutral about parents having a right to have children without telling them the genetic history of their biological parents (28%, compared with 18% among all adults)
• 15-24s and single people are more likely than average to be neutral on the issue of donor assisted conception only being offered if offspring are given the right to their genetic history at the age of 18 (30% and 23% respectively, compared with 15% among all adults).

Information about Parents' Health & Medical Background

There is strong public support for the rights of children -- when they reach 18 -- to receive information about their parents' health and medical background that could affect them (e.g. genetically inherited diseases or a genetic predisposition towards a disease). Four-fifths (83%) agree with this, and nearly half (46%) agree strongly, which is a high figure for strong agreement, in MORI's experience.

Again, there is little difference between those with children and those without children on a child's right to this information, whilst women are a little more supportive of this information being available, compared with men (86%, compared with 80% respectively).

Knowing Who Parents Are

There is a majority in favour of children from donor-assisted conception having the same rights as adopted children in knowing who their biological parents are: 69% agree with this, and only 13% expressly disagree. There is little difference between sub-groups on this issue.

Openness about Donor-Assisted Conception

Around two-thirds (68%) agree that there is too much secrecy about donor-assisted conception, and that parents should be encouraged to be more open about it. Only 7% disagree with this, whilst the remainder -- a quarter -- are either neutral or express no opinion.

As we might expect, those who feel that there should be more openness about information on the genetic history of biological parents are generally more supportive of children's right to know such information about their parents, whether this is:

• the genetic history of the biological parents (90%, compared with 80% overall)
• information about parents' health and medical background (92%, compared with 83% overall)
• who their biological parents are (81%, compared with 69% overall).

Should parents be Given a Choice as to Whether Genetic History is Disclosed?

Despite all the earlier findings indicating strong support for the rights of children -- when they reach 18 -- to know the genetic history of their biological parents, there is some support for parental choice on this issue. Though 46% do not feel parents should be given a choice about whether children aged 18+ have the right to genetic history, 35% feel they do. Older people aged 55+ are more supportive of parental choice (43%), as are DEs (43%).

Conclusions

Overall, there is much stronger support for the rights of children born through donor-assisted conception to have the right to information about their biological parents than there is support for parents'/donors' rights to withhold this information. Support is high for disclosing three types of information to such children: genetic history, medical history and identity. Most people agree that children born through donor-assisted conception should have the right to this information when they reach 18.

However, some people hold apparently contradictory views on the rights of parents and children. For example, of those who agree that all children should have the right to know the genetic history of their biological parents (80% overall), around a third (37%) support the idea of parental choice over whether this information is given. Similarly, of those who feel that children from donor-assisted conception should have the same rights as adopted children to know who their biological parents are, nearly a quarter (23%) also agree that donors should have the right to withhold information about their genetic history if they want to.

Furthermore, many people -- up to a quarter on some questions about rights to information about donor-assisted conception -- are undecided or do not know whether rights should be given to children born from donor-assisted conception to information about their biological parents. This suggests that there is still some scope for this subject to be opened up for debate.

Topline Results

• MORI interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,033 adults aged 15+ throughout Great Britain between 23-28 May 2002.
• Interviews were performed face-to-face, in-home.
• Results have been weighted to the 15+ population profile.

Q I would like to ask you some questions about donor assisted offspring. This is the term given to people born as a result of sperm or egg donation. Some of them refer to 'genetic history', by which I mean such things as ethnic origin or inherited health or medical issues. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?