Donor Conceived- Background

This project is an attempt to provide adults conceived with donated sperm or egg the opportunity to locate, with genetic confirmation, half-siblings, as well as their biological parent(s).  It is also an attempt to assist former donors in locating their biological children.  Please refer to the Goals section for more information about this project and its benefits.

Check out the latest NEWS on the Donor Conceived DNA Project

Name:

DNA tests ordered:

Offspring or donor:

Year of conception or years donated:

Sperm bank or clinic where donor donated (if known):

Doctor that performed the insemination (if known):

Place of conception:

Donor number (if known):

Siblings (if any) - please note if any siblings have done DNA tests and what tests:

42 members

34 confirmed offspring

5 confirmed donors

USA

Sperm Banks

• Xytex Corporation (Augusta, GA)
• Idant Laboratories (NYC)  
• Fairfax Cryobank (Fairfax, VA)

Private Clinics/Doctor's Offices

Northeast

• Dr. Solon Gottliev, Lenox Hill Hospital (NYC)
• Lenox Hill Hospital (NYC)
• Dr. Solon Gottlieb (NYC)
• Dr. Benjamin Immerman (Queens, NY) 
• Dr. Irwin Thompson, Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard Medical School - became Boston IVF (Boston, MA)
• Dr. Fred Simmons (Boston, MA)
• Dr. William Leslie Smith (Hartford, CT)
• Washington Fertility Clinic (Washington, DC)
• Drs. Rifka and Falk, Washington Fertility Study Center/Columbia Hospital (Washington, DC)

Midwest

• University of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK)
• Dr. James Warren, Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO)
• Dr. Jack Hoffman (Chicago, IL)

South

• University of Texas, Southwestern (Dallas, TX)
• Dr. James Aiman, University of Texas Southwestern (Dallas, TX)
• Dr. Ronald Young, Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX)
• Dr. Larry Lipshultz, Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX)

West

• OHSU Andrology (Portland, OR)
• Dr. J. Marrik, Tyler Medical Clinic (Westwood, CA)
• Dr. Raphael Durfee, University of Oregon Health Sciences (Portland, OR)

Canada

• London Health Sciences Center, University of Western Ontario (London, ON)
• University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB)
• Dr. Josef Z. Scott, University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB)
• Gamete Services, Dr. Allan Shewchuk (Toronto, ON)
• Dr. Bernie Ludwig, Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, ON)

Australia

• Monash IVF (Melbourne, VIC)
• Dr. Colin Matthews, Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Adelaide, SA)
• Dr. Colin Douglas-Smith (Perth, WA)

Europe

• Drs. Thomas Katzorke and Dirk Propping, Universitätsklinik Essen (Germany)

Lindsay Manzoian-Greenawalt is the creator and currently the sole administrator of the Donor Conceived Project.  Conceived in 1984 in Northeastern Ohio by Xytex Sperm Donor #2035, Lindsay has been a vocal advocate for donor-conceived persons rights since 2003.  She currently authors a well-known blog Confessions of a Cryokid, where she discusses her personal search and opinions and shares advice on searching, DNA testing, and more.  Lindsay holds a B.S. in Biology and spent two years working in Biomedical Research (Mouse Genetics) before receiving her M.S. in Library and Information Science with a concentration in academic health sciences librarianship.  She currently works as a Reference and Instruction Librarian at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

In 1884, William Pancoast performed the first artificial insemination by donor procedure at Philadelphia's Jefferson Medical College.  While the woman was under anesthesia the doctor inseminated her with one of the medical student's sperm.  They informed the husband, but decided never to let the woman know that she had no been inseminated with sperm from her husband.

For the next half-century the procedure was virtually unknown to the public.  It was considered a private bedroom matter, and women were told to go home, have sex, and think that the child was their husband's.  

During this time fresh sperm was used, often locally recruited medical students and residents.  However the first successful pregnancy involving frozen sperm was in 1953.  The first commercial sperm banks (selling frozen sperm) opened in the USA in the 1970s, including Cryogenic Laboratories, Inc (CLI) and Idant Laboratories in 1971, Xytex in 1975, and California Cryobank (CCB) in 1977.

By the late 1980s, early 1990s, donor conception was becoming more and more mainstream, as single women (called Single Mothers by Choice - SMC), and same-sex couples sought the use of donated sperm to conceive.

The 21st century has brought about a change in mentality among legislatures, parents, and offspring.  More and more donor conceived children are informed of their origins (though it's still suggested that only about 10% of those conceived with a donor will ever know).  Countries like the Netherlands (1985), Victoria, Australia (1996), the UK (2005), and most recently British Columbia, Canada (2011) have instituted laws that ban anonymous donations and ensure that children conceived through these procedures will be able to have access to their donor's information upon reaching age 18.  

However, the biggest change in the past decade has been the insurgence of adult donor-conceived individuals speaking out for the first time, and demanding information about their biological fathers.  This has led to many donor conceived adults seeking alternative routes to locate and learn information about their biological father and their paternal relatives.  One of these trends has been the increase in donor conceived adults using DNA to trace their biological father.

If you are interested in donating any money to the general fund, this is money that in the future will be used to help offset the costs for members to get upgrades (such as from a Y-DNA 25 to a Y-DNA 67 test to further provide evidence of siblingship between to males), or for scholarships for adult offspring who are in financial situations that prevent them from being able to order a test, such as offspring who are in school.