Attitudes towards gamete donation among Swedish gynaecologists and obstetricians

BACKGROUND: Assisted reproductive technology (ART) legislation in Sweden has undergone a gradual transform-ation from being fairly restrictive when first introduced to becoming more permissive in recent years. Regarding gamete donation, Sweden became the first country to pass legislation about disclosure by establishing a child’s right to find out the identity of the gamete donor once the child has reached maturity. Our aim was to investigate atti-tudes towards gamete donation among Swedish gynaecologists and obstetricians. METHODS: A questionnaire was mailed to all gynaecologists and obstetricians listed from a commercial register of all working in Sweden. Among 1230 eligible gynaecologists/obstetricians, 854 (69%) answered the questionnaire. RESULTS: In general, the majority of Swedish gynaecologists/obstetricians had positive attitudes towards gamete donation. Although a majority advo-cated openness regarding informing the child that he or she was conceived by making use of gamete donation, 40 % opposed allowing the child to receive any information about the donor when the child has reached maturity. Even though Swedish legislation has allowed sperm donation to lesbian couples since July 2005, one-third of the gynae-cologists/obstetricians opposed donation to lesbians. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the gynaecologists’/ obstetricians ’ negative attitudes towards disclosure may influence patients ’ ability to discuss their thoughts and feel-ings about donation. This may also have a negative impact on donor recruitment as well as on the extent of methods made accessible within ART