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Latest Surrogacy News
Link for families in donor births
By Sarah
Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent October 10, 2003
Telegraph
Children conceived using
donated sperm, eggs or embryos could soon be put in
touch with their biological parents and half-brothers
and sisters thanks to a voluntary register announced
yesterday. The UK
DonorLink pilot scheme will start in the New Year, with
DNA testing used to match offspring with donors and
other half-siblings who are also on the register.
The
service will rely on donors who have until now remained
anonymous coming forward and supplying DNA.
It will
then be compared with that of children desperate to know
their background.
The
service will be available only to those aged over 18 who
were conceived before the Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Act came into force in August 1991.
More than
18,000 people have been born using donated sperm, eggs
or embryos since the Act required the Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to register such
births.
An
estimated 12,000 were conceived with donor sperm or eggs
before then. It is possible that the register could be
extended to include children born after 1990 in the
future if the pilot scheme is a success.
Lyndsey
Marshall, the project manager, said: "The team at UK
DonorLink is committed to ensuring that this register is
shaped by the needs of donor-conceived people and their
families, as well as by donors and their relatives.
"Donor-conceived people will have the opportunity to
find out about their donors, and similarly, donors will
have the opportunity to find out about their offspring,
conceived with the assistance of their donation.
"This
will clearly only be by mutual consent."
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