“I helped someone have a child, but I am not its mother”: egg donors' attitudes in Spain towards (improbable) contact with children conceived from their eggs
Research question: What are the attitudes of egg donors in Spain towards potential contact with children conceived from their genetic material, should Spanish legislation change to permit this? Design: Ethnographic research carried out between 2016 and 2019 that included interviews with 38 egg donor...
| Authors: | , |
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| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) |
| Repository: | Docta Complutense |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/118375 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118375 |
| Access Level: | Embargoed access |
| Keyword: | Assisted reproductive technology Egg donors Donor-conceived children Reproductive bioeconomies Ciencias Sociales 51 Antropología 5103.02 Filiación, Familia y Parentesco 6309.03 Familia, Parentesco |
| Summary: | Research question: What are the attitudes of egg donors in Spain towards potential contact with children conceived from their genetic material, should Spanish legislation change to permit this? Design: Ethnographic research carried out between 2016 and 2019 that included interviews with 38 egg donors from different parts of Spain. Results: Three distinct groups were identified: egg donors who would not accept establishing contact under any circumstances and would not have donated under non-anonymity (26.3%); those who express their desire, interest or fondness for such contact, and would have donated even if it were not anonymous (26.3%); and those who have no desire or interest in such contact, but would agree to it if the initiative came from the children themselves and/or their families (47.4%). Conclusions: Spanish egg donors fluctuate between two interpretative registers concerning kinship: one prioritizing genetics and the other experiential and social factors. The results suggest that lifting anonymity would not lead to a significant drop in the number of egg donations. |
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