# IMPORTANT.....please sign!



## Ipswichbabe (May 17, 2005)

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/spermdonors/

/links


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## olivia m (Jun 24, 2004)

Dear Ipswichbabe
I'm sorry that whoever started this petition seems to feel that the answer to the shortage of sperm or egg donors lies in going back to anonymous donation.  The law was not changed in order to deny couples or individuals the chance to have a child, it was changed to give choices to those people most affected by donor conception...the people who result from it.  As things stood before the change, they were the only ones not to have any choices at all and to have knowledge of one half of their genetic background denied to them as a result.  If all UK clinics had prepared for the change and put in place recruitment practices aimed at a new sort of donor (as did places like Manchester Fertility Services) then the shortage of sperm would have been a blip rather than the crisis is has been.  Sadly most clinics put their heads in the sand and then cried foul...blaming the change in the law for their failure to change the way they recruit.  Luckily many clinics are now starting to recruit again and surprise, surprise, not finding it too difficult.  With regard to egg donation, sadly many clinics just assumed that no-one would donate altruistically after the law change and started sending people abroad without even trying to continue to recruit in this country.
Of course having to wait for donated eggs or sperm adds to the considerable heartache of infertility and that cannot be a good thing, but can it be right that supply of gametes is put before the needs of donor conceived people to make a choice to know about where they have come from?  I don't think so.
Olivia


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## snagglepat (Sep 13, 2004)

I've had a look at the petition and have decided not to add my name as the request is just not clear enough for me. Review and do what exactly? Change the situation back to anonymous only? Change it to something more like the American system where donors can choose whether they want to be anonymous or ID release? Or as Olivia has said, put a system in place that requires clinics to have some kind of donor recruitment process? 

I do think that lobbying on this is a good idea but to simply ask for a review with no indication of why or with what purpose in mind (to improve donor numbers? reduce them?) isn't actually that helpful. Just my 2p worth. 

Gina.


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## Fifebloke (Jan 18, 2006)

I agree with Gina.  We need to support an identified solution, not just complain.

(Mine's was thruppence)

David


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