U.S. Donor Conceived Council

31/07/2025

New on the blog: Understanding the medical history of s***m and egg donors isn’t just about DNA—it’s about health, transparency, and identity.
Explore the importance of ongoing donor medical histories, screening limitations, and evolving norms around openness and disclosure.
Read our latest article to learn how updated records and early communication empower donor-conceived individuals and modern parents.
Linked here: https://www.usdcc.org/2025/07/25/understanding-the-medical-history-of-s***m-and-egg-donors-what-you-need-to-know/

30/07/2025

Parentage is the legal relationship between a parent and a child. When a child is born through donor conception, it’s essential that the people raising them are legally recognized as their parents from the very beginning. Without that legal clarity, children can face uncertainty about who is responsible for their care, who can make decisions on their behalf, and who they are legally connected to.

Children born through donor conception deserve to start life with the security of having their intended parents legally recognized. This reduces the risk of family separation and ensures children have immediate access to health insurance, inheritance, and other legal rights through both parents.

This new law will help make that a reality by ensuring that intended parents are recognized as legal parents.

The act also allows for a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Parentage (VAP), which is a simpler, streamlined, and more affordable way of establishing parentage

Here’s to another win for the DCP community!

15/07/2025

In our latest Ask a Therapist, the USDCC Mental Health Team responds to a recipient parent who is navigating the complexities of connecting with other families in their child’s sibling pod.

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13/07/2025

Ask A Therapist 30 is live on our website now! Read the full response at: https://www.usdcc.org/2025/07/11/ask-a-therapist-connection-to-other-families-in-your-pod/

12/07/2025

We at USDCC are so excited to announce that we are going to ASRM 2025 in San Antonio, Texas!! Our all-volunteer team is getting ready to bring our voice and our knowledge to ASRM once again. Will we see you there?

30/06/2025

Big news from Oregon! The legislature has passed SB 163, and the bill now heads to Governor Kotek’s desk to be signed into law.
With this historic step, Oregon becomes a national leader in protecting donor-conceived people and their families.

SB 163 provides donor conceived people the right to know their genetic origins upon adulthood and ensures legal recognition for families built through donor conception.
Consistent with Article 9 of the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA), SB 163:
• Requires identity disclosure to donor-conceived adults age 18 or older upon request
•Grants access to medical information collected at the time of donation to recipient parents and donor conceived adults

Aligned with Article 7 of the UPA, the bill also provides essential parentage protections for donor conceived families.

29/06/2025

Yesterday, in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a preliminary injunction that allows parents to opt their children out of LGBTQ+ inclusive school curriculum. The ruling raises serious concerns about the future of inclusive public education and whether all students will feel seen, respected, and supported in the classroom. For donor conceived children, especially those with LGBTQ+ parents, visibility matters.

Read our full statement: https://www.usdcc.org/2025/06/28/u-s-donor-conceived-council-responds-to-mahmoud-v-taylor-supreme-court-ruling/

24/06/2025

A new blog is on our website focusing on Navigating Pediatrician Visits for Donor Conceived Children. Read it in full on our website: https://www.usdcc.org/2025/06/23/navigating-pediatrician-visits-for-donor-conceived-children/

20/06/2025

Learn about what a genetic counselor is in our new blog post at https://www.usdcc.org/2025/06/19/what-is-a-genetic-counselor-and-how-can-they-help-me/

03/06/2025

Being donor conceived shouldn’t mean being legally vulnerable.

Legal recognition of parentage is crucial for a donor conceived child’s well-being. It affects decisions related to medical care, inheritance, custody, and more.

For children who are donor conceived, legal clarity is more than paperwork-it’s protection. It’s knowing our families are seen, supported, and safeguarded.

The RAISE Children Act would change that in New York by creating a streamlined confirmatory adoption process-so donor conceived kids aren’t left waiting for the law to catch up to their lived reality.

Want to help?

Share your story or learn more at the link below 🔗

The Rights Act Initiating Security and Equality for Children, known as RAISE Children, aims to protect all New York families by creating and codifying clearer, more streamlined paths to parental recognition.

02/06/2025

Happy from all of us at USDCC!

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23/05/2025

U.S. Donor Conceived Council Statement in Response to “Private s***m bank admits to giving s***m samples to FBI without donors’ knowledge,” LGBTQ+ Nation, May 21, 2025

Note: Thank you to those who offered helpful feedback. We want to be clear:

We are not saying Seattle S***m Bank never made a comment about providing s***m to the FBI. We are saying that we could not verify whether the content of the comment is true.

Our decision not to speak publicly about the comment wasn’t because we questioned whether a statement was made; it was because we did not feel comfortable doing so with information we could not verify or quote word-for-word.

We recognize our initial statement should have made this distinction clearer, and we apologize for the confusion.

U.S. Donor Conceived Council Statement in Response to “Private s***m bank admits to giving s***m samples to FBI without donors’ knowledge,” LGBTQ+ Nation, May