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More than 30 children, most of them British, are feared to have been conceived through IVF using sperm or eggs from donors their parents did not select, prompting the Foreign Office to update its travel advice for fertility treatment in northern Cyprus.
Families who travelled abroad for IVF say they carefully selected anonymous donors according to characteristics including medical history, appearance, personality, education, and ethnic background.
However, DNA testing has reportedly revealed that some children have genetic ancestry from Turkey and neighbouring countries despite their parents having selected donors they were told were Western European.
Eleven of the approximately 30 children identified have reportedly undergone DNA testing, with results revealing discrepancies between their ancestry and the donors selected by their parents.
One mother, identified as Rachel, underwent treatment at the Dogus IVF Centre in Nicosia in 2012. She had questioned for years why her son Jonah looked different from the sperm donor she had selected.
DNA testing eventually established that Rachel was Jonah’s biological mother, but that her chosen sperm donor was not his biological father.
“I used to think the clinic had made a one-off mistake,” Rachel said, adding that it now appeared to be “something much bigger and more deceitful.”
Around half of the children involved in the allegations were reportedly conceived following treatment at Dogus. One doctor linked to Dogus has denied wrongdoing.
Cryos International, one of the world’s largest sperm banks, reportedly blacklisted Dogus in 2016 and told the BBC that it had no record of supplying sperm to the facility, despite Dogus allegedly having advertised a relationship with the company.
The allegations highlight a fundamental ethical problem created by artificial reproduction. Once human conception is separated from the marital act and divided between laboratories, anonymous donors, commercial providers, and intended parents, the identity and biological relationships of the resulting child can become dependent upon the decisions and record-keeping of an industry.
More than that, it unveils the eugenic thought that underlines the industry, with outrage being about children not being “as Western European as was wanted.”
Laura Bridgens, founder of Donor Conceived UK, said it was a “fundamental human right” for donor-conceived people to know the truth about their biological origins.
Following reports of the scandal, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has added new information concerning fertility treatment to its Cyprus travel advice. The Government warns explicitly that fertility treatment in northern Cyprus “carries risks,” as facilities are not regulated in the same way as those in Britain, and urges prospective patients to conduct thorough research.
SPUC’s Executive Director, Michael Robinson, said: “This is a scandal that is far reaching and uncovers the numerous problematic layers of the fertility industry. Children are separated from their biological identity, they are left in the lurch to satisfy the whims of selfish adults, and they are created to satisfy a eugenic desire to have the “ideal child.” Still that doesn’t touch one the multiple embryos created whose lives are cut short when they don’t meet the threshold or don’t win the implantation lottery.”
“SPUC is glad that this dangerous industry is getting the media criticism it deserves, and glad that the Foreign Office has warned people against it. We will work to have the domestic baby-making business scrutinised as much as the Cypriot one has been to show people the dangers of this practice. Babies are not commercial products; they are people with rights from the moment of conception.”
