Many if not most sperm donors in the early years of IVF donated under conditions of anonymity. There is, however, a growing awareness of the ethical cost of withholding identifying parental information from donor children. Today, anonymous donation is illegal in many jurisdictions, and some jurisdictions have gone as far as retrospectively invalidating contracts whereby donors were guaranteed anonymity. This article provides a critical evaluation of the ethics and legality of anonymous donation. We defend Australian and British legislation that has outlawed donor anonymity, and we argue for the establishment of a central registry that provides donor children with the ability to easily and reliably access identifying information about their donor parents.

在体外受精早期，许多（如果不是大多数）精子捐献者都是在匿名的情况下捐献的。然而，人们越来越意识到不向捐赠儿童透露父母信息的道德成本。如今，匿名捐赠在许多司法管辖区都是非法的，有些司法管辖区甚至追溯性地使保证捐赠者匿名的合同无效。本文对匿名捐赠的道德和合法性进行了批判性评估。我们捍卫澳大利亚和英国禁止捐赠者匿名的立法，我们主张建立一个中央登记处，使捐赠者的孩子能够轻松可靠地获取有关其捐赠者父母的识别信息。