title: In search of donor relations and identity: the missing voices of Israel's children.
abstract: The voices of donor offspring and their families are missing from the debate regarding gamete donor anonymity v. openness in Israel, their unique predicament unheeded. Despite a context of worldwide change, various fears and myths impede the outlawing of donor anonymity, with Israel's medical establishment and legal representatives invested in maintaining a status quo characterized by regulations that discriminate between families whose members know their biological parents/siblings and those who do not. The most prominent of these is that abolishing anonymity leads to long-term shortage of donors, despite well-documented evidence to the contrary. A review of key research findings regarding the particular needs and experiences of offspring, recipients and donors clearly supports the need for a well thought-out re-evaluation of persistent fears and myths via the prism of grassroots reality. This evidence-based approach can lead to the formulation of recommendations that should facilitate, reflect and constitute such policy change.
authors.affiliation: Israeli Donor Families. ioscrivo@netvision.net.il
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shidlo
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002651:Child Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D030881:Disclosure / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D018587:Oocyte Donation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D013094:Spermatozoa; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*