Public opinion regarding oocyte donation in Sweden.
BACKGROUND
Oocyte donation has been permitted by Swedish legislation since January 2003. According to the law, offspring have the right to receive identifying information about the donor when they reach a mature age. The aim of the present study was to investigate public opinion regarding different aspects of oocyte donation.


METHODS
A study-specific questionnaire regarding attitudes towards aspects of oocyte donation was sent to a randomized sample of 1000 women (73% response) and 1000 men (56% response).


RESULTS
A majority of respondents supported treatment with oocyte donation. Seventeen per cent of the women considered donating in the future, whereas 56% of the men would support their partner. While nearly half of the respondents considered that offspring should receive identifying information of the donor, one-third were opposed to this. Overall, women were more positive towards disclosure to the offspring than were men (P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The present results indicate strong support for the use of oocyte donation among a subset of the Swedish population. There was considerable interest among women in donating oocytes anonymously. While a majority advocated openness regarding the donation between parents and child, there was less support for the offspring to have a legal right to receive identifying information about their donor.
Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University Hospital, S-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden. skoog.svanberg@swipnet.se
A Skoog
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Svanberg
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Lampic
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Bergh
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Lundkvist
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D030881:Disclosure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018587:Oocyte Donation; D010290:Parents; D010375:Pedigree; D011639:Public Opinion; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden