New proposal to abolish anonymous egg and sperm donation

The New Flemish Alliance party (N-VA) and the Christian-Democratic party (CD&V) are calling for the establishment of a central database to manage the data from egg and sperm donors and for the abolishment of the donors’ right to anonymity. Abolishing anonymity would allow donor children to access information about their parent donor, providing them with medical data from age 12, and identifiable information from age 16, reports De Standaard.

“Anonymous donations are outdated,” says CD&V’s Els Van Hoof in De Standaard. With the support of their party, Van Hoof and fellow CD&V member Sonja Becq are to present a bill to parliament that would put an end to anonymous donations.

N-VA has also expressed its support for the proposal. "Now that the first donor children are grown-up, we cannot deny that it is sometimes essential for them to find that one piece of the puzzle,” says N-VA member Valerie Van Peel. “It’s time we set the record straight."

The anonymity of donors was initially ensured to encourage more donations. "But figures from abroad prove that this is not the case. In the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the number of donations actually went up after anonymity was removed," says Van Peel.