Turner Judy: Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Turner Judy: Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15935] 
JUDY TURNER (United Future) 
: 
 I will take a reasonably brief call on this part mainly because as somebody who has to date been very critical of the first two parts of the bill I would like to make a positive contribution on this part which I believe has great merit. While we obviously cannot force parents to disclose to a donor offspring his or her origin I think it will be very important—and I am sure it already happens—that recipients are given very good counselling about the importance of letting children know their genetic background. Historically when sperm donations started we did not anticipate the interest that offspring would have in that further down the track so it is great to now take this opportunity to address that problem. I think that the moment we start to underestimate the huge importance to children of having those important pieces of the jigsaw in place that help them with their identity and sense of who they are we really will have lost our way. Of course this issue is particularly important when we consider that at present in New Zealand nearly 50 percent of in vitro fertilisation procedures are offered to single women and to lesbian women. That fact alone makes it extremely clear why the issue of children being able to access in later years that important information about the identity of their father will become even more substantial. 
Another thing that I think is interesting is a story I heard recently. Apparently if a New Zealander who is overseas bumps into another New Zealander and the two talk together for less than 10 minutes they are more than likely to discover somebody whom they know in common. That means that we are a bit of a village here in New Zealand because of our population base so the chances of accidental incest are increased. Therefore good recording of information and the availability of that information to the people concerned are more crucial for New Zealand children than perhaps for the children of other larger nations. We need to be very aware of that. 
We had a previous speaker talk about a concern that has been expressed about a fall-off in donors. However I really do believe that even at the level of being a donor it is irresponsible in this day and age and with what we understand now to be the case to allow somebody to be a donor who is unwilling to allow the offspring who arise as a consequence of that donation to go without the all-important information about their identity. 
The other thing that struck me based on the experiences of people whom I have spoken to is the number of people who have discovered in their later years a latent genetically inheritable disease that they wanted to then notify offspring of so that their offspring could make lifestyle choices that would lengthen their lives. It will be particularly important that donors are able to track back in order to let that important information be passed on to the appropriate offspring. We are supportive of that. 
We will support Dr Paul Hutchison’s amendment to have a voluntary register. I do though have some concerns that his other amendment would let clinics off the hook a little with regard to their responsibility for maintaining good information. I realise that there will be some difficulties but I think that we need to keep that as tight as possible and put a huge onus on fertility clinics to keep and to strive to keep the very best information possible for the future use of offspring.