[From Diane Allen, Infertility Network of Canada]
As you may be aware, Parliament in the United Kingdom is considering amending birth certificates of those born through donor conception.
The International Donor Offspring Alliance (IDOA) is asking all those who support their aims to endorse their submission to the UK government.
See http://web.jaguarpaw.co.uk/~tom/080408-collation.pdf
*** NB. You do not need to live in, or have been conceived in, the UK to sign. Moreover, progress made in 1 country (in this case, the UK) can help advance the rights of donor offspring in other countries around the world.
IDOA's brief calls upon the UK government to ensure that:
1. Donor-conceived people have birth certificates which record the names of donors
2. Provision is made which makes it almost impossible for donor-conceived people not to see that certificate early in their life.
IDOA has considered, anxiously & at length, the tensions between the legitimate privacy of those involved (and particularly the donor-conceived themselves) and concluded that, while there is no perfect solution, systems can be developed which represent an acceptable balance. In its submission, IDOA has not sought to explore the complexities of competing solutions because members are more interested at the moment in engaging MPs' interest in the issue of principle.
The British Association for Adoption and Fostering actively supports IDOA's position, and over 20 organizations, including many prominent ones (e.g. Barnardo's, the NCH and NAGALRO) have endorsed BAAF's submission.
To add your endorsement to IDOA's submission, either personally or as a representative of an organization, please contact IDOA directly ASAP at
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ABOUT IDOA: http://web.jaguarpaw.co.uk/idoa
IDOA was formed in 2007 to act as an advocate for those conceived through the use of donor eggs or sperm. Currently, there are members from the UK, US, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand & Australia, including donor offspring (of both sexes; aged 24-64), as well as academics & social work practitioners who have a professional interest in the field.
IDOA believes that:
* Everyone has the right to know the truth about their own life, including the manner of their conception & the identity of their biological parents.
* Where the state is involved in providing or regulating donor conception, it must not cause, promote or collude in deceiving people or depriving them of information about their own origins; nor may it discriminate against particular groups in terms of the provision of significant information about their own lives.
* It follows that the birth certificate of a donor-conceived person must enable them to know the identity of their biological parents.
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