Promotion of gamete donations, young adults are being targeted
A tour of France and a publicity campaign to find new sperm or oocyte donors? That is the new concept being launched by the French Biomedicine agency. The Tour “#FaitesDesParents” (make new parents) which is being conducted between 18th September and 11th October 2024 is part of the “#FaitesDesParents” campaign launched in October 2023.
The concept? A travelling bus visits ten cities which are equipped with Cecos (Sperm study and preservation centres). From Caen to Clermont-Ferrand, from Bondy to Lille, medical staff explain the donation process to all those who they meet.
The declared objective is quite simple: “To explain gamete donation and to encourage people to register to become donors, in order to shorten the waiting times of thousands of people who need them to achieve the joys of parenthood”.
The idea is nothing less than “taking them by the hand and leading them to the donation centre, as explained by the general manager of the ABM, Marine Jeantet, who has no hesitation in quoting the principally targeted population: “We are looking for young people wherever they are, in universities, in the posh neighbourhoods” etc.
The slogans and communications are indeed aimed essentially at young adults: “As a student, you may not necessarily wish – at least for the time being – to have children. But by donating your sperm, you are offering to others the joys of parenthood. You don’t want children? #FaitesDesParents (make parents)“.
The philosophy carried by this campaign is part of the “childfree” movement observed in recent years. It is a line of thought which values the refusal of parenthood for reasons of personal comfort and hedonism, reasons recorded in particular by an IFOP survey conducted on behalf of Elle magazine in 2022.
Among the methods employed, they indeed noted the presence of gamete donation promotion videos conveying the following types of messages : continue to “fully enjoy Friday evenings“, “be the best at video games” or even continue to “make the most of your late lie-ins “, it is all possible by becoming a donor and making parents – instead of making babies”.
Although the biomedicine agency is devoting all its energy and public funds in order to attempt to quickly and massively recruit new gamete donors, it is in fact the amendment of the 2021 bioethics law, which is responsible, as announced by the ABM, for the current situation and which was evidently predictable : “The gamete donation requirements have exploded ! […] from 2000 requests per year up till 2021 to 13,000 in 2023″. However, in 2022, there were a mere 714 sperm donor candidates and 943 oocyte donors.
Concerning costs, the latest report by the French audit office in January 2024 revealed that the budget allocated by the Health Ministry for this promotion campaign had been increased five-fold compared with previous years to reach the princely sum of 3.5 million euros in 2023.
The campaign is aimed at the exhortation given to all to donate their gametes, and that from the age of 18. There is a form of implicit guilt: if you do not donate, certain people will remain childless. On the ABM web-site you can read “With the new law, more and more people will be able to resort to ART. Today, more than ever, they are counting on you”.
These slogans are also pressing on the keys of altruism: “By donating your sperm, you are offering to others the joys of parenthood”. The pathos, the emotion, are pulling on humane heart-strings: our sensibility and our disposition towards generosity. But those strings may also confuse our discernment especially as they are particularly effective because they leave little room for criticism or debate.
This all leads to immense confusion, with blood donations for example. Whereas it is quite different. With gamete donations, there is no medical need it is a mere response to a desire. Gametes are life-bearing cells, that is how they are special. But they are not vital. If the gamete banks, the Cecos, dry up, nobody is going to die.
Despite its annual campaigns, the ABM is struggling to increase the number of donors. Surely that begs a question? If donations are rare, that shows that it is not trivial to donate one’s gametes. It is and remains a possibility of becoming the biological mother or father of one or several children. It is important to understand that sperm donations from a given donor can lead to the birth of up to 10 children, according to the current rules.
Moreover, since 1st September 2022, all donors must accept that their identity as well as their so-called “non identifying data”” (in particular their age, their general state of health, their motivations for donating etc.) concerning them may be revealed to the children born from their donation, if the children concerned so request, on reaching adulthood.
According to Alliance VITA, it is serious and irresponsible to target in particular young adults. How can one presume in advance that their consent is fully free? Who can predict the way in which they will react if some 18 years later, a person knocks on their door because they want to have access to their identity?
For further reading:
ART: The challenges of the “shortage” of sperm donations – July 2024
