June 30, 2004
Should IVF babies learn about birds, bees, & beakers?
If you had been adopted by your parents, would you want to know? If so, at what age? And why? If the answer to the "Why?" question was, "Because I would want to have the opportunity to meet my biological (genetic) parents", then consider this:
What about babies who come to term as a result of in vitro fertilization? Do they have a right to know how they got here? Does it even matter?
According to this German study, most parents answer "no".
Parental Attitudes Toward Embryo DonationMon Jun 28, 2004 10:12 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - Only about a third of parents whose children were born through embryo donation plan to tell them how they were conceived, scientists said Monday.
Although the parents had the same level of commitment and affection for their children as couples who adopted or had in-vitro fertilization, they preferred to keep silent because of concerns about how the child would react.
"The most common reasons for not telling the child about their method of creation were fears that it would upset the child or damage family relationships," Fiona MacCallum told a fertility conference.
There was also a feeling, she said, that since the mother carried and gave birth to the child, she was the real mother and there was no need to tell the child anything different.
The research psychologist at City University in London questioned 21 couples whose children had been conceived through embryo donation, 28 who had adopted and 30 who had in-vitro fertilization.
Although women who become pregnant through embryo donation give birth to their children, like adoptive parents they have no genetic link to them.
All the parents were interviewed and completed questionnaires when their children were between 2 and 5 years old.
Embryo donation parents scored higher in emotional over-involvement, which includes traits such as putting the needs of the child over other family members or a reluctance to use babysitters or care-givers, but there was no difference in the quality of parenting between the three groups.
"This supports the idea that it is the level of commitment to parenting that is important, and not the presence or absence of biological links between parents and children," MacCallum added.
The findings were presented during a meeting in Berlin of the European Society of Human Reproduction & Embryology.