No longer anonymous in Germany

Michael Cook
31 Jan 2015
Reproduced with Permission
BioEdge

The days of anonymous sperm donation are over in Germany. The German Supreme Court has settled a patchwork of decisions and ruled that children of any age may request the identity of their biological father. "There is no specific minimum age necessary for the child," the judges said. Parents may make a request on behalf of the child.

The only limitation is that the parents (usually the mother) must be able to prove that the child wants to know and that the effect of disclosure upon the donor must be taken into account. However the decision stated that the right of children to know the identity of their fathers normally outweighs the donors' right to privacy.

The case was brought by sisters aged 12 and 17 who had been denied access to their sperm donor father's identity. Their parents had waived a right to access at the time of conception. The status quo of German legislation was that children can only access this information when they are 16. However the Supreme Court said that children begin to ask questions about their origins as early as kindergarten.

Since the 1970s, an estimated 100,000 children have been born from sperm donation in Germany.

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