“My Daddy’s Name is Donor” Representative, comparative study on donor conceived adults

I am very excited to share with you the first representative, comparative study about the identity, kinship, well-being, and social justice experiences of adults conceived through sperm donation.

The “My Daddy’s Name is Donor” report is being released internationally by the Commission on Parenthood’s Future and the 140 page report, with full details about the study, is available for immediate free download at htp://familyscholars.org/

“My Daddy’s Name is Donor”
Co-investigators, Elizabeth Marquardt, Norval Glenn and Karen Clark
The survey research firm Abt SRBI of New York City fielded our survey through a web-based panel that includes more than a million households across the United States. Through this method we assembled a representative sample of 485 adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years old who said their mother used a sperm donor to conceive them. We also assembled comparison groups of 562 young adults who were adopted as infants and 563 young adults who were raised by their biological parents.

We learned that, on average, young adults conceived through sperm donation are hurting more, are more confused, and feel more isolated from their families. They fare significantly worse than their peers raised by biological parents on important outcomes such as depression, delinquency and substance abuse. Nearly two-thirds agree, “My sperm donor is half of who I am.” Nearly half are disturbed that money was involved in their conception. More than half say that when they see someone who resembles them they wonder if they are related. Almost as many say they have feared being attracted to or having sexual relations with someone to whom they are unknowingly related. Approximately two-thirds affirm the right of donor offspring to know the truth about their origins. And about half of donor offspring have concerns about or serious objections to donor conception itself, even when parents tell their children the truth.

The title of this report, My Daddy’s Name is Donor, comes from a t-shirt marketed to parents of babies who were donor conceived. The designers of the shirt say it’s just meant to be funny. But we wondered how the children feel when they grow up.

This unprecedented, large, comparative, and very nearly representative study of young adults conceived through sperm donation responds to that question. The extraordinary findings reported in the stories, tables and figures that follow will be of concern to any policy maker, health professional, civic leader, parent, would-be parent, and young or grown donor conceived person, anywhere in the world. An extensive list of recommendations is found at the conclusion.

Very truly yours,
Karen Clark
Conceived via an anonymous sperm donation in 1966
Co-investigator of the “My Daddy’s Name is Donor” study
mydaddysnameisdonor@gmail.com

htp://familyscholars.org/