One of the disputed issues in AID is whether the identity of sperm donors should remain secret or whether states should enact legislation permitting or requiring AID children to learn the identity of their biological fathers. The issues raised are similar to, although not identical with, those considered in adoption. For example, it is easier to keep AID a secret than it is adoption because the mother is pregnant with the child. Moreover, the AID child knows the identity of one of its biological parents. Adoption policy has undergone significant changes in favor of disclosure to adopted children not only of their adoption, but also of the identity of their genetic parents.
Many states now permit open adoption.
If these policies were enacted for AID, but the statutes did not cut off inheritance from the donor, and the AID child learns the identity of the biological father, the child could inherit from an intestate estate or as a pretermitted heir as a nonmarital child if the child could prove the man's paternity. In Illinois a nonmarital child may inherit from an intestate deceased father if the decedent acknowledged paternity or had been adjudicated the father. A sperm clinic often provides the sperm from a single donor to a number of women to use for AID, however. If a statute requires a clinic to identify the donor but does not shield the donor's estate from his AID children's intestate inheritance or their pretermitted heir claims, the estate may be subject to a large number of claims. The other type of AID cases litigated thus far involves unmarried women who conceive children by AID with semen from a known donor.