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Each year, tens of thousands of children are conceived with donated gametes (sperm or eggs). By some estimates, there are over one million donor-conceived people in the United States and, of course, many more the world over. Some know they are donor-conceived. Some do not. Some know the identity of their donors. Others never will.
Questions about what donor-conceived people should know about their genetic progenitors are hugely significant for literally millions of people, including donor-conceived people, their parents, and donors. But the practice of gamete donation also provides a vivid occasion for thinking about questions that matter to everyone. What is the value of knowing who your genetic progenitors are? How are our identities bound up with knowing where we come from? What obligations do parents have to their children? And what makes someone a parent in the first place?
In Conceiving People: Identity, Genetics and Gamete Donation, Daniel Groll argues that people who plan to create a child with donated gametes should choose a donor whose identity will be made available to the resulting child. This is not, Groll argues, because having genetic knowledge is fundamentally important. Rather, it is because donor-conceived people are likely to develop a significant interest in having genetic knowledge and parents must help satisfy their children's significant interests. In other words, because a donor-conceived person is likely to care about having genetic knowledge, their parents should care too.
Industry Reviews
"While a claim about access to genetic knowledge lies at the heart of Groll's book, he is all too aware of the social forces that influence people to care about their genetic origins...Conceiving People is aimed principally at the decisions of individual actors-those intending to become parents with donated gametes and those donating their gametes for this use." -- Roxanne Mykitiuk, Hastings Center Report
"The analysis is effective, featuring precise definitions and framing of key ideas while providing enough explanation of concepts to support readers only somewhat familiar with gamete donation as a route to conception ... To foster a philosophical conversation on the larger topic of donor gamete conception, this would be a useful resource to include in a bioethics, medical ethics, or similar course." -- S. M. Weiss, CHOICE
"Conceiving People is a smart and engagingly written book that argues that people who intend to conceive with donated gametes ought to use an "open donor." I expect this important book will have an impact on the philosophical debates about gamete donation, on individual parenting choices, and on public policy (even though the latter isn't Groll's primary target). Groll's main argument is that the obligation to use a known donor follows from the
likelihood that the child of the prospective parents will come to have a significant, worthwhile interest in acquiring genetic knowledge. But the book also touches on lots of other interesting themes in family ethics
along the way. It's not just a march to the conclusion and Groll also takes a subtle and gentle approach to the arguments he examines." -- Samantha Brennan, Dean, College of Arts, University of Guelph
"This is a deeply insightful and engaging treatment of the moral right to know one's origins. Daniel Groll is a fluid and witty writer. He brings clarity and astute analysis to a neglected area of ethics." -- Rivka Weinberg, Professor of Philosophy, Scripps College
"Daniel Groll gives the best argument I've seen in favour of openness with gamete donation. Absent are the usual problematic statements about genetic knowledge being required for identity formation or self-knowledge. And present is an acute awareness of the social forces that can profoundly shape people's interest in knowing their genetic origins. The chapters mainly stand alone, but Groll says, "go on, read the whole thing!" I say that's well worth doing." --
Carolyn McLeod, Professor and Chair Department of Philosophy, Western University
"Groll's book has much going for it and makes extremely important contributions to the debate over anonymous donor conception. Readers interested in any of the above topics or simply looking for engaging, well-written, and impressively accessible philosophy would do well to read it." -- Amanda Roth, Bioethical Inquiry
"Groll's book has much going for it and makes extremely important contributions to the debate over anonymous donor conception. Readers interested in any of the above topics or simply looking for engaging, well-written, and impressively accessible philosophy would do well to read it." -- Amanda Roth, Bioethical Inquiry
