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Colorado to end anonymous sperm and egg donations

CNN

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Colorado is now the first state that will soon no longer allow anonymous sperm and egg donations.

SB-224 was signed by Governor Jared Polis on Tuesday. The bill guarantees people conceived by donors the right to learn about their identity.

Representative Kerry Tipper, a sponsor on the bill, says behind other countries when it comes to getting rid of anonymity. Tipper says it's a tremendous disservice not just to the donor who could be contacted, but for the donor conceived person who doesn't have a full medical history. This bill makes sure a donor the donor is fully informed on the decision that they're making and that there is potential for them to be contacted.

While the bill is designed to help those conceived by donors, a Colorado-based charity says they don't really think the law changes much.

The Donor Sibling Registry helps connect donor-conceived people with their half-siblings or biological parents.

"I had a curious donor-conceived kid. He wanted to know does he have any half-siblings, would his biological father be open to knowing him, and there was no way to facilitate this kind of contact. So, we created a vehicle for those people who wanted to make mutual consent contact," said Wendy Kramer the founder of the Donor Sibling Registry.

Tipper says legislatures worked on this bill for months and spoke with dozens of people in the industry. Tipper says nothing that the bill requires is new, but provides uniformity. Sperm banks across the country have requirements that are in this bill and it combines them all to make them mandatory in Colorado.

Donor Sibling Registry has helped 23,000 people over the last 22 years.

Under the new Colorado law, those born as a result of sperm, egg or embryo donation will have the right to learn the identity of the donor. Kramer says it raises more questions for her.

"This whole thing to me, it's just a little beyond me. They didn’t address concerns of the millions of donor-conceived people already on the planet or even those that will turn 18 between now and the year 2043," said Kramer.

The bill says donor-conceived kids will have the right to their donor's medical history, and they will be expected to update their contact and medical information with the agency or fertility clinic at least once every three years.

"Which we all have from before a child is born. When you buy the sperm you get the donor profile, which includes the non-identifying self-reported medical history and that doesn’t make sense to me," said Kramer.

The bill will also raise the minimum age of donation to 21 and limit contributions to 25 families.

"Without mandatory birth reporting, they’ll never know how many kids are born from any one donor. You can’t set limits until there’s accurate record-keeping, it doesn’t exist so who’s going to mandate this and who’s going to pay for it," said Kramer.

Tipper says in response that sperm banks are required to keep track of how many times a person is donating and it is up to the entity to comply with the law. Tipper says a lot of them already do keep track.

U.S. Donor Conceived Council (USDCC) worked closely with Senate President Stephen Fenberg. In a press release, president and CEO Erin Jackson says, “More than a million people in the United States have been created via sperm and egg donation with little consideration to their future needs or interests, including learning the identity of the person who contributed half of their DNA and having access to accurate medical information.”

The law phases in these requirements from 2022 to 2025 to give gamete agencies, banks,
and fertility clinics time to adjust their practices.

The bill will then go into effect in 2025, meaning the first year they'll have the ability to know their donor is 2043.

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