Donor child

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A donor child ( donor offspring / donor conceived person ) is a person who was created through a sperm donation. The association Spenderkinder estimates that there are around 100,000 donor children in Germany, of which around 5–10% know about their origins.

In medical terms, sperm donation is referred to as donogenic or heterologous insemination and generally as AID ( artificial insemination by donor ). This method of artificially assisted fertilization has existed in Germany since the beginning of the 20th century; it became the subject of social and legal disputes from around 1970. Currently there is a guideline of the German Medical Association and the recommendations of the Working Group for Donogene Insemination eV, both from 2006, for doctors working in this area.

Right to know one's parentage

It used to be assumed that it would be better for the child not to be informed that it was the result of sperm donation. It was also assumed that knowledge of one's own origin was not important. Today, the education and counseling of families is based on experience and studies and recommends early education. The right to know one's parentage, which was established by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1989 and justified as follows, is decisive:

“As a characteristic of individualization, descent is part of the personality, and knowledge of origin offers the individual important points of contact for understanding and developing his or her own individuality, regardless of the extent of scientific results. Therefore the right of personality also includes the knowledge of one's own descent. "

- BVerfGE 79,256 (January 31, 1989) : [1]

Although this judgment clearly states that every person can find out about their genetic parents when they are of legal age, donor data was kept secret or destroyed for a long time. In 2006, the German Medical Association and ADI (see above) recommended that the donor's identity data be kept for 30 years. The Tissue Act , with which Germany implemented EU Directive 2004/23 / EC, has made this period binding since 2007 . The agreements between the sperm bank, donors, doctors and parents are subordinate in this respect, anonymity cannot be guaranteed for sperm donors. In February 2013, the Hamm Higher Regional Court ruled that the right to know one's parentage could be valued higher than the anonymity of the donor.

Organizations

In Germany, the Spenderkinder association represents people conceived through sperm donation. In the media and politically, he campaigns for an improvement in the legal situation, clarification and for an end to taboos. The association is made up of German donor children between the ages of 18 and 45 and works on a voluntary basis.

The association DI-Netz eV - as a German association of families after sperm donation - also represents children from sperm donation together with their parents. The family network campaigns for the social acceptance of starting a family with sperm donation, for education and the right of children to know their parentage.

literature

Specialist literature

  • Fischer, Tobias HJ: Ethical Aspects of Donogenic Insemination. Doctoral thesis in medical ethics, Greifswald 2011, also: Kassel university press 2012, ISBN 978-3-86219-316-5 .
  • Koch, Hans-Georg: Reproductive Medicine in European Legal Comparison. In: From Politics and Contemporary History. (B 27/2001), pp. 44-54.
  • Lüderitz, Alexander; Dethloff, Nina: Family Law - A Study Book. 28th edition, Beck, Munich.
  • Oelsner, Wolfgang; Lehmkuhl, Gerd: Donor children - artificial insemination, sperm donation, surrogacy and the consequences: What children will ask, what parents should know . Fischer & Gann, February 2016, ISBN 978-3903072169 .
  • Rotax, Horst-Heiner: On the child's right to information about their birth parents and the parents' right to information about actual motherhood or fatherhood. In: Practice of child psychology and child psychiatry. Vol. 56. 2007, No. 2, pp. 148-171.
  • Rütz, Eva Maria K .: Heterologe Insemination - The Legal Status of the Sperm Donor.
  • Thorn, Petra: The Story of Our Family - A book for families who have formed with the help of donor sperm treatment. Mörfelden 2006, ISBN 3-9811410-0-8 .
  • Thorn, Petra: Starting a Family with Donor Sperm, A Guide to Psychosocial and Legal Issues. September 2008, ISBN 978-3-17-020124-8 .
  • Thorn, Petra: Male infertility and the desire to have children - experiences, lifestyle, advice (advice & help). Kohlhammer, 1st edition 2010, ISBN 3-17-021010-6 .

Novels

  • Ani, Friedrich: The invisible heart, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 2009, ISBN 3-423-62386-1 . A book for young people about three teenagers who were conceived by a sperm donation and who met in a chat room.
  • Kermalvezen, Arthur: Ganz der Papa - sperm donor unknown, Patmos-Verlag 2009. Experience report of a French donor child, now in his mid-twenties, who learned from his parents at the age of three that he was the son of an anonymous sperm donor. In France, the author is involved in the Association Procréation Médicalement Anonyme, an initiative of donor children.
  • Stehle, Katrin: Spenderkind, Gabriel-Verlag 2012, ISBN 3-522-30284-2 . Novel for teenagers.
  • Holgersson, Lars: Jackpot - a Heidelberg romance. Neobooks 2015, ISBN 978-3-7380-4140-8 . Novel about two donor children looking for their biological fathers.

Magazines

  • Naumann, Dirk: thwarting the right to know one's ancestry in artificial insemination, in: Zeitschrift für Rechtssppolitik, issue 4/1999, pp. 142–144.
  • Schnitter, Jane T .: Let me explain: A story about donor insemination, Perspectives Press, Indianapolis 1995, ISBN 0-944934-12-9 . An educational book for children.
  • Telus, Magdalena: Reproductive Medicine - Between Trauma and Taboo, in: Deutsches Ärzteblatt 98, Issue 51–52.

Broadcast reports

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Model guideline of the German Medical Association for the implementation of assisted reproduction. (2006, PDF; 143 kB)
  2. ↑ Recommendations of the working group for donogenic insemination for quality assurance of treatment with donor sperm in Germany. (February 2006, PDF; 597 kB)
  3. ↑ Jörg Menzel, Thomas Ackermann: Constitutional Law: Hundred Decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court in retrospective . Mohr Siebeck, 2000, ISBN 978-3-16-147315-9 , pp. 407ff.
  4. ↑ EU Directive 2004/23 / EC of March 31, 2004 for the definition of quality and safety standards for the donation, procurement, testing, processing, preservation, storage and distribution of human tissues and cells. (PDF) (PDF)
  5. ^ Rauscher, in: Staudinger, BGB, Neubearb. 2011, Appendix to § 1592, Rn. 16
  6. ↑ OLG Hamm I-14 U 7/12, February 6, 2013