Donor conception and a donorconceived person’s right to know inJapan.

Sperm donation• Artificial insemination with the donor’s semen(AID)/donor insemination (DI) has been available inJapan since 1949.
• In general, medical students have been recruited assperm donors.
• A system of anonymous sperm donation has beenused.
• More than 10,000 people have been born as a resultof DI in Japan.
• Table1 Number of children born through sperm donation.
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
121

133

129

117

76

53

2012
120

2

Ovum donation• According to domestic guidelines, egg donation
should be voluntary and not compensated.
• With the exception of a few unusual cases, ova havenot been donated domestically.
• Because of later marriage and childbirth, the demandfor donor eggs has increased, and Japanese women
have gone abroad (e.g., to the US, Thailand, andTaiwan) to obtain eggs.
• Although accurate statistics are unavailable, it has
been estimated that thousands of deliveries in Japan
have resulted from overseas egg donation.
3

The right of donor-conceived
individuals to know
• In 2003, the right of children aged at least 15 years toaccess identifying information about the donor
involved in their conception was recognized by an
official report published by the ART section of theJapanese Ministry of Welfare.

• However, no statutory regulations have beenenacted thus far.

• In Japan, the right of donor-conceived people toknow has not been legally affirmed.
4

Results of survey in 2000
• Figure 1. Have you disclosed the truth to you
children?
• (N = 438) The sample consisted of infertile fathers
who had children though donor insemination.
1%

No and never to plan to22%

77%

No and would prefer not
to if possible
No and would like to ifpossible「人工授精により挙児に至った男性不妊患者数の意識調査」(2000)“Questionnaire for infertile fathers who had children as a result of donor insemination.” 5Opinions of adults born through donor
insemination• According to a survey conducted in 2000, parents werereluctant to disclose the truth.
• However, a political movement to know was initiated byadults born through DI.
• Some had unexpectedly been told the truth when theirparents divorced and their father was affected by ahereditary disease.
• Some adults born through DI have used the media,symposia, and meetings held by the government to argue
that they should have the right to access donor
information.
• The idea that donor-conceived adults have the right toknow has gradually been accepted in Japan.
6Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill
• Since the fall of 2013, a project team of the Japanese
Liberal Democratic Party has been considering statutory
regulations regarding ART.
• According to the draft, gamete donation will bepermissible but cannot be connected with monetarycompensation; surrogacy will be permissible only if thewoman has no uterus and the surrogacy is motivated byaltruistic concerns.
• According to the draft, the consent form regarding
gamete donation will be stored for 80 years by agovernment organization.
• However, a donor-conceived person’s right to know
was not included in the draft bill, and this issue willcontinue to be discussed.
7Research on the Status of Donor-offspring Rights to
Obtain Donor Information in Foreign Countries.
• The purpose of our survey:
In Japan, assisted reproductive technologies are underway in compliancewith guidelines of the relevant scientific association. Inconclusive
discussions continue, however, surrounding individualistic moral principles
on life and the concept of the family. As a result, Japan has not yet started arulemaking process as to the implementation of proper reproductive
methods. But evidence suggests momentum is growing these days toward
some lawmaking steps.
• In some other countries, laws and guidelines have been establishedconcerning assisted reproductive technologies. But there is a wide disparity
among those countries when it comes to the right of a person to know how
he or she was born, and from whose sperm or egg.
• So, the purpose of this survey is to examine the current state of othercountries concerning assisted reproductive technologies and the right toknow the way one was born, to identify those issues that need to beaddressed, and to prepare fundamental data usable in the consideration oflegalizing assisted reproductive technologies here in the future.

Research member••••
•
•
•
•

石原理
Ishihara Osamu, Saitama Medical University
小門 穂
Kokado Minori, Osaka University
梅澤彩
Umezawa Aya, Kumamoto University
仙波由加里 Semba Yukari, Stanford University
出口顕
Deguchi Akira, Shimane University
中村裕之 Nakamura Hiroyuki, Kanazawa University
野辺陽子 Nobe Yoko, University of Tokyo
日比野由利 Hibino Yuri , Kanazawa University• This research is funded by the Japanese Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare.