Psychosocial aspects of donor insemination

Background . The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes and opinions among donor insemination recipient couples with respect to the informing of offspring and relatives, the effects of donor insemination on sexual life and marital status, and their concerns about the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease. Methods. A questionnaire study design. Three hundred and sixteen (194 Danish and 122 Swedish) couples were included. Results . Answering rate among the Danish couples was 89% and among the Swedes 75%, ( p <0.01). Fifty percent of the Danish couples and 66% of the Swedes were of the opinion that the treatments should be kept secret from good friends, ( p < 0.05 ). Sixty‐seven percent of the Danes and 87% of the Swedes found it important that knowledge about the inseminations was not made common knowledge to all interested parties, (p<0.005). Parameters in which there were no differences between Danes and Swedes: Fifty‐one percent of the couples would withhold information about the insemination from the child even when it was old enough to understand this information. Seventy percent of the couples would prefer not to know themselves, whether they had been conceived by donor insemination. Nineteen percent of the Danish couples would not have accepted donor insemination if the legislation guaranteeing donor anonymity had not been in existence. Eighty percent thought that their sexual life was unaffected during the course of the treatment. When asked, 95% were still married to the same partner with whom they began the treatment. Eighty‐five percent of the couples were worried about getting a sexually transmitted disease through the treatment. Conclusion . The results suggest that secrecy about the treatment and donor anonymity have a high priority among Danish and Swedish recipient couples, irrespective of the different legislation in the two countries.