The last vial. What it means to (aspiring) parents to use the same sperm donor for siblings.

A lot of attention has been given to the quest of parents, children and donors to find donor siblings (= half siblings who share the same donor gametes but who are born in different families). However, literature is scarce about the use of the same sperm donor for subsequent children in the same family. This study included 68 lesbian and heterosexual (aspiring) parents, recruited at the Department of Reproductive Medicine of Ghent University Hospital (Belgium).

Creating a family through connection websites and events: ethical and social issues.

Over the years, connection websites and speed dating events have increasingly attracted singles and couples who cannot have a child in the 'traditional' way. These initiatives bring together candidate gamete providers and recipients with the promise of offering more freedom of choice than fertility centres or sperm banks currently do. Depending on the level of contact desired, the role of the gamete provider may range from not being involved at all to sharing full parental rights and obligations.

Donor Conception Disclosure: Directive or Non-Directive Counselling?

It is widely agreed among health professionals that couples using donor insemination should be offered counselling on the topic of donor conception disclosure. However, it is clear from the literature that there has long been a lack of agreement about which counselling approach should be used in this case: a directive or a non-directive approach. In this paper we investigate which approach is ethically justifiable by balancing the two underlying principles of autonomy (non-directive approach) and beneficence (directive approach).

Recipients' views on payment of sperm donors.

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how recipients viewed payment of sperm donors. The study was conducted in Belgium, where, as in many countries, sperm donors receive recompense for their time and expenses. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 heterosexual and lesbian couples who, at the time of data collection, had at least one donor-conceived child aged 7-10 years or who were undergoing donor conception treatment.

The Meaning of the Sperm Donor for Heterosexual Couples: Confirming the Position of the Father.

In the literature, relatively little attention has been paid to the meaning of donor involvement in the intimate couple dyad. The current study aimed to enrich our understanding of couples' meaning-making regarding the anonymous sperm donor and how they dealt with the donor involvement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine couples, who had at least one child conceived through sperm donation.