{"id":40906,"date":"2022-04-27T17:13:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T23:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/donor-conceived-coloradans-would-be-able-to-learn-identity-of-biological-parents-under-new-bill\/"},"modified":"2022-04-27T23:13:15","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T23:13:15","slug":"donor-conceived-coloradans-would-be-able-to-learn-identity-of-biological-parents-under-new-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/donor-conceived-coloradans-would-be-able-to-learn-identity-of-biological-parents-under-new-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Donor-conceived Coloradans would be able to learn identity of biological parents under new bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Scientist
Scientist Fabrice De Bond picks up a vial containing frozen donor sperm samples at a lab in Melbourne, Australia. (Wong Maye-E\/Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Coloradans conceived with eggs or sperm donated after 2024 would be able to learn the identity of their biological parents when they turn 18 under a bipartisan bill advancing through the Legislature.<\/p>\n

The measure, Senate Bill 224, would be the first of its kind nationwide, advocates say. It would also require fertility clinics to take steps to ensure donors can\u2019t be used to establish more than 10 families.<\/p>\n

Sperm and egg banks, and the nation\u2019s multibillion-dollar fertility treatment market, are not stringently regulated at the federal level, proponents of the bill say. There\u2019s no limit on how many children a donor can create, and no requirement that much of their educational or medical history be verified. The federal government does require that donated sperm and eggs be tested for communicable diseases.<\/p>\n

The lack of regulation and information can leave people conceived using donors in the dark about their medical profile. Some have discovered using new DNA testing kits \u2013 like those offered by 23andMe \u2013 that they have dozens of half-siblings.<\/p>\n

The bill \u201cremoves the promise of forever anonymity \u2013 a promise that because of today\u2019s science isn\u2019t a promise that actually anybody can keep,\u201d said Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat and one of Senate Bill 224\u2019s prime sponsors.<\/p>\n

In the worst cases, anonymity offers a curtain of secrecy that lets a donor lie about their academic or medical history, the bill\u2019s supporters said.<\/p>\n

But opponents of SB 224 said horror stories about hundreds of siblings created by the same donor are exceptional and that there are already guidelines in place that the industry follows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill appears to be a solution in search of a problem,\u201d said Sean Tipton, with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. \u201cThere is simply no evidence that there are problems with gamete donation which justify this level of intervention.\u201d Gametes include egg and sperm cells.<\/p>\n

Clinic representatives said that requiring a donor to reveal their identity could limit how many people contribute or violate donors\u2019 privacy rights, for example if the donor\u2019s address was posted online by the child conceived using their egg or sperm.<\/p>\n

\"An
An in vitro fertilization embryologist works on a petri dish at a fertility clinic in London. (Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

There were also questions about how out-of-state clinics serving Colorado residents could be required to comply with the bill, and concern that its documentation requirements would be time-consuming and add costs.<\/p>\n

SB 244 comes after Colorado outlawed fertility fraud in 2020 in response to a Grand Junction fertility doctor who allegedly used his sperm to impregnate multiple women who were his clients without their knowledge. The doctor, Paul Jones, is being sued in a Mesa County court.<\/p>\n

Several states, including Texas and Indiana, have recently passed laws to crack down on fertility fraud after similar reports surfaced of fertility doctors misusing their sperm.<\/p>\n

The fertility sector has gained more attention as DNA testing companies make it easier than ever for people to glean information about their biological family members and family history, and as growing numbers of people have been conceived through donors.<\/p>\n

Learning you have 100 half-siblings can feel \u201cvery dehumanizing,\u201d said Tyler Sniff, a vice president with the U.S. Donor Conceived Council, which supports the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a loss of sense of individuality. You just kind of feel like a widget in a factory that\u2019s being cranked out,\u201d Sniff said.<\/p>\n

He said he learned through an Ancestry.com test that his biological father was an anonymous sperm donor and lifelong drug user who died of an overdose at age 36.<\/p>\n

A large number of half-siblings can make it hard to build relationships if they want that, and it can be overwhelming to pass on medical history to more than a few children conceived with a donor\u2019s sperm or egg, he said.<\/p>\n

With the first one or two people, the donor might be receptive. \u201cWhen like five, 10 people come out of the woodwork, the donor just kind of shuts down,\u201d Sniff said.<\/p>\n

A few states, such as California and Washington, allow donors to disclose their identities but don\u2019t require it. An increasing number of sperm and egg banks also don\u2019t grant donors anonymity.<\/p>\n

If passed, SB 224 would bring Colorado more into line with what other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, have in place, said Naomi Cahn, a University of Virginia School of Law professor who has studied the industry for decades and testified in favor of the bill.<\/p>\n

Other provisions in SB 224 would bar someone younger than 21 from donating an egg or sperm. Donors and recipient parents would be provided more information about the potential needs of the donor-conceived child and the disclosure process. Banks and fertility clinics would also need to permanently hold onto records and request medical updates from donors every three years. And non-identifying medical information about the donor could be released before the donor-conceived child turns 18.<\/p>\n

There are 42 fertility clinics and four gamete banks in Colorado, according to a state fiscal note.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legislation would be first of its kind nationwide, advocates say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,394,94,15,233,28,1971],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-colorado-state-senate","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-reproduction"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40906"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}