“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

Abstract

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.