Donation of Genetic Material and the Polish Law on Infertility Treatment

Since the procedures of medically assisted procreation (such as insemination or in vitro fertilization) carried out with donated gametes have become common, the problem of protecting donors and children has arisen. Donors needed the protection of their right to respect for family and private life, whereas children needed the proper assimilation with a new family, based on social bonds. Initially, most countries introduced, as a basic rule, the principle of anonymity of gamete and embryo donation (the so-called traditional model). According to the anonymity rule, a child conceived via medically assisted procedures does not have access to information about the donor’s identity, and vice versa. However, due to the increasing importance of the right to know one’s genetic origin, many countries decided to change the law and allow the child and the donor access to the donor conception register (the so-called liberal model). The Polish Act on Infertility Treatment of 2015 adopted the traditional model, with a few modifications. Opinions on the new regulation differ, and there is an ongoing discussion in the literature concerning in particular the confidentiality of the donor’s identifying data.