Past donor conception practices

In short

Donor conception practices have changed over time.

From the 1960s to the 1990s, donors were usually anonymous.

At the time, infertility was often seen as a private matter. Donor conception was not widely discussed. Many people believed donor identities should stay private.

In the late 1990s, views about donor conception began to change. Research and personal stories showed that donor anonymity could have negative impacts for donor conceived people. These included:

• questions about identity
• missing family medical history
• the risk of unknowingly forming relationships with genetic relatives.

As a result, there was growing recognition of the needs and rights of donor conceived people.

Information available on the register

Practices from the 1960s to 1990s

From the 1960s to the 1990s, donors were usually anonymous. At the time, infertility was often seen as a private matter and donor conception was not widely discussed. Many people believed donor identities should stay private.

Because of this, clinics and doctors were not required to keep detailed records. They often recorded only limited information about donors, such as:

• physical characteristics, such as height, hair or eye colour
• blood type.

They did not always collect or keep:

• full names
• proof of identity documents
• detailed medical histories
• information about donor-conceived children.

Records were usually kept on paper. Record keeping practices also differed between clinics. Many records were created before people expected that information might be wanted later.

Practices from the late 1990s

In the late 1990s, views about donor conception began to change. Research and personal stories showed that donor anonymity could have negative impacts for donor conceived people. These included:

• unanswered questions about identity
• unknown family medical history
• the risk of unknowingly forming relationships with genetic relatives.

As a result, there was growing recognition of the needs and rights of donor-conceived people, and record keeping was more detailed.

Why some records may be incomplete

The information available depends on when and where donor conception treatment took place.

The amount of information available can vary from one record to another.

If information is missing, fertility clinics must explain why. You may receive this explanation when accessing information from the register.

This can happen because:

• information was not recorded at the time of the procedure
• some clinics have closed, moved or changed ownership
• doctors who held records may have retired or died
• records may have been lost or destroyed over time.

You may be interested in

Find out more about accessing the register:

• Understanding the donor conception information register
• Support services for donor conception

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Apply to access the donor conception information register

Add personal details to the donor conception information register

Add details of a private procedure to the donor conception information register