Donor conceived person

A donor offspring, or donor conceived person (DCP), is conceived via the donation of sperm (sperm donation) or ova (egg donation), or both (either from two separate donors or from a couple).

For donor conceived people, the biological parent(s) who donated sperm or eggs are not legally recognized as parents and do not appear on their birth certificate. In many countries it is common for donor conceived people to be given no identifying information about their donor, however in some countries anonymous sperm and/or egg donation has been made illegal due to concerns for the medical and emotional needs of donor conceived people. Even in cases with anonymous donors, donor conceived people are sometimes able to connect with biological parent(s) and/or half siblings conceived from the same donor using DNA testing or through online registries for donor conceived people.

With the significant increase in the numbers of donor-conceived individuals (38,910 live babies were born in 2005 as a result of 134,260 ART cycles performed at reporting U.S. clinics in 2005, compared with 20,659 babies born as a result of 64,036 ART cycles in 1996), many have questioned the ethics surrounding the technologies and human decisions surrounding donor conception, and there has been plenty of controversy. For example, the term "Snowflake baby" was coined in reference to unused frozen embryos (left over from other couples' attempts to conceive through in vitro fertilization) that have been "adopted" by families. Abortion opponents tend to support such adoptions.

"ART Cycles" are not accurate as many people (<40%) who use IVF (egg donation) do not report their births, and that there is no tracking or record keeping required for children born from sperm donation. Estimates of 30,000-60,000 often used are from estimates made with incomplete records from the mid-1980s.