> Claiming that people donate anonymously because they are concerned about claims to their estate is, IMO, pretty ridiculous. There have been millions of sperm donations done through fertility clinics and not one documented case of any offspring laying claim to an estate.

I didn't say people - I was only speaking for myself. I wouldn't want a contest to my will (which would cause hardship to my loved ones) from the result of an act of goodwill and charity. In the jurisdiction I'm at at least (Canada), it is illegal to receive compensation (with the exception of travel expenses) for sperm donation, so it really is an act of charity. Additionally, legislation regarding parental rights differs from province to province, so while people in, say, Ontario have protection against claims to their estate, if donations were made via clinics and sperm banks, this might not be the case in all provinces in Canada (I am in another province). The crown (or people) can and will contest wills that it deems unfair or unreasonable, and there is plenty of case law on this topic. as I mentioned, depending on the province, you could potentially end up with a pile of people with a potential claim to part of your estate, if the province defines children as genetic offspring and doesn't make the distinction between donation and not. I am not a lawyer, but as a potential donor, risk mitigation is something an anonymous donation helps with. A contest to the will, even if unsuccessful, would delay my loved ones getting their inheritance.

> For your 3rd cousins who you've never met? If even one of your distant relatives has tested on one of these sites, it's incredibly easy for an offspring to track you down and figure out who you are.

As for my 3rd cousins, and even more distant relatives (some of whom I'm in closer contact with than my 1st cousins) the assumption I never met them is ridiculous. You don't know my familial situation, and considering my family went through the holocaust, where my family who didn't escape in time were slaughtered based on the fact that they were of the Jewish people, makes all of us wary of submitting samples to a database of genetic information held by third parties. And those of us who are left are all very close. This is especially scary with the current state of politics around the world.

> For the offspring? As another person pointed out, they have no agency in this. They did not sign a contract promising anonymity. They should have every right to seek out their genetic origins.
> You claim restriction on testing seems reasonable - restrictions for whom?
>How would you suggest restricting or preventing that? Whose usage would you restrict?

As for restrictions on the offspring and lack of agency in signing contracts, as far as I know, no-one in the world has agency over their own conception and birth, no matter where the source genetic material comes from. No one asks to be born. if we look at an anti-natalist perspective, you could go to the extreme and say that because we have to work to survive (unless you are born to an extremely wealthy family) that all childbirth is forcing slavery onto people. That is absurd, of course.

As people have pointed out elsewhere in the comment thread below, people have a right to know their parents, but not necessarily their genetic origins (and that is a separate distinction in the laws of many, but not all jurisdictions). Parents make decisions all the time before you have agency, medical and otherwise. Your parents decide on how to raise you, what to feed you, where you will go to school and what you will do until you have agency. These decisions they make for you carry over and affect your life, and there's very little you can do to change that.

So with regards to restrictions, I think that a reasonable solution would be along the lines of requiring companies like FamilyTreeDNA or 23andMe check with a database run by clinics if a person is a result of a donation, and if that donor consented to genetic testing, before any tests are processed. I also think we need limits on how, and to whom, companies like that can disclose information to. This shouldn't be impossible to implement, as sibling registries exist, even for anonymous donations in Canada. Additionally (and this isn't necessarily part a donor issue) there should be prohibitions on governments, corporations (i.e. advertising, pharma, and insurance companies), and law enforcement[1] having access to these databases. If you do opt in to having your genetic information used for research, you should, at the very least, have informed consent and receive compensation. This brings to mind the case of Henrietta Lacks, as well.

This never is a simple topic - for example, there are known cases of doctors using their own sperm instead of donor sperm, or the father's sperm [2]. This is horrible. There should be limits on how many children can be fathered by a single donor, and the geographic proximity of said donations as well.
But ruling out protections for donors, who (depending where you are) may not be compensated for any kind of future risk, and are (if not compensated) doing a kind, charitable act to help couples who are struggling with infertility, is absurd. The realities of sperm donation, at least in Canada, aren't simple. You must be in good health. You must undergo blood screening. You take your own time and money to do this, and get at best, travel expenses back (and those are usually limited to $C70). On top of all of that, you cannot have sex or ejaculate for a couple of days between donations, and it's a 3-6 month process before you even start donating, and you are expected to be in the program for at least a year and maintain a healthy lifestyle.[3][4] You also have to disclose your medical records.
People still donate, however, to help couples or families struggling with infertility.

Clearly, this is a very emotional subject (on both sides), and I do empathize with your situation, but I suggest you try and also look at other perspectives too - are adopted children less worthy than children born and raised by biological parents? Are children born from sperm or egg donation less worthy? Are your parents, who raised you, took care of you, and hopefully, loved you, somehow not your parents because they don't completely share part or all of your DNA? Can you try and empathize with how they feel as well?

I sincerely hope you were raised in a loving household, and that your parents (the ones who took care of you as a child) were good ones. It seems to me that you have a lot of anger and frustration, and that makes me pretty sad, to be honest. While I don't know you personally, but as I said before, if I were to ever donate, it would be with the hope that it would help a couple, struggling with fertility issues, to create a loving home and family.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/business/family-tree-dna-...
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47907847
[3] https://globalnews.ca/news/3454884/canadian-sperm-donors-don...
[4] https://www.repromed.ca/donor_faq