European Fertility Week 2024

The Gamete Story – Shedding Light on Gamete Donation and Advocating for Comprehensive Regulations and Inclusive Fertility Care

The 4th of November, 2024, marked the beginning of European Fertility Week (EFW) 2024, an annual campaign dedicated this year to the theme of gamete donation in fertility treatment. This year’s EFW will raise awareness of the complexities of gamete donation and highlight the critical needs.

Gamete donation plays a crucial role for many individuals and couples experiencing involuntary childlessness, offering hope for expanding families in circumstances that might otherwise make parenthood impossible. Yet, throughout Europe, vast differences in regulations of gamete donation contribute to significant inequities in access to treatments. This year’s EFW aims to address these disparities. We are calling for action to ensure that fertility care, including gamete donation, is available and ethical for all those who need it and that there are supportive policies and accessible, inclusive fertility care across Europe.

7 days of in-depth discussion on gamete donation

For European Fertility Week 2024, a seven-day in-depth focus on gamete donation was held, spotlighting crucial aspects like transparent information, implication counselling, ensured accessibility, sufficient funding and fair practice resulting in policy recommendations. Each day addresses a specific theme, encouraging participants to explore how to make fertility treatments accessible, ethical, and supportive.

This event advocates for a cohesive approach, encouraging to adoption of policies that support the rights and well-being of donors, recipients and donor-conceived people, and foster a well-informed public dialogue.

Bridging the Gap in Access and Awareness

Throughout the week, Fertility Europe and its member associations run various online and offline activities to engage the public and policymakers. Highlights include personal testimonies from patients, donor-conceived individuals and gamete donors, discussions on psychological support and implication counselling in fertility care. We have gathered several insightful and moving testimonials to present various perspectives and to illustrate the gap between the existing needs and the actual provisions around gamete donation treatments. To view all of the testimonials please follow THIS LINK.

The webinar titled “Navigating My Choices in Gamete Donation” held during European Fertility Week 2024 focused on crucial topics for those considering or opting for gamete donation treatments. Hosted by Fertility Europe, this session featured insights from prominent speakers on discrepancies in current regulations across Europe, family dynamics, and the perspectives of non-genetic parents. It also touched on donor anonymity in the era of the growing popularity of ancestry genetic testing and shed light on an issue of the number of families using the gamete of one donor. We also shared preliminary findings from recent patient surveys on attitudes toward gamete donation based on over 1500 responses as of the end of October 2024.

The webinar was opened and beautifully moderated by Satu Rautakallio-Hokkanen. Our grand speakers presented on the following:

• Anita Fincham (Fertility Europe) opened the webinar with an overview of European regulations on gamete donation, setting the context for the current state and future of fertility treatments across EU countries.
• Nina Barnsley (Donor Conception Network, UK) discussed the importance of honesty within families who use gamete donation, focusing on how transparency can build trust and positively impact children’s sense of identity.
• Debbie Kennett (University College London, UK) presented on the trend of “donor anonymity fading away.” She explained how the growing popularity of ancestry testing affects the anonymity of donors which increasingly moves us toward non-anonymous donation even without legal provisions.
• Jackson Kirkman-Brown (Birmingham Women’s Fertility Centre, UK) addressed the regulatory caps on the number of children that can be conceived from a single donor’s gametes – a measure aimed at balancing the availability of donor gametes with ethical and genetic diversity considerations.
• Maciej Śmiechowski (Nasz Bocian, Poland) addressed the perspective of non-genetic parents, sharing insights on the experiences of parents raising donor-conceived children, the support they may need and the considerations to take into account. 
• Monika Bulmanska-Wingett (Fertility Europe) shared results from a recent patient survey on attitudes toward gamete donation, highlighting patient preferences and concerns, especially regarding anonymity and the emotional implications of donor conception.

An interactive Q&A session allowed attendees to engage with the speakers, clarifying questions about practical choices, the impact of changing regulations, and resources for support.

You can view the recorded session below.

This event offered a valuable resource for anyone navigating the complexities of gamete donation, bringing together expertise and patient perspectives to foster informed, supportive choices.

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the speakers for sharing their invaluable knowledge and expertise with our community. Thank you!

Growing Movement for Fertility Rights

European Fertility Week has grown in both reach and impact since its inception in 2016, and it remains the only pan-European campaign dedicated to raising awareness on fertility issues. Fertility Europe supports national-level activities and advocacy by offering materials to its members. Each year, EFW expands its focus to cover a range of topics that impact individuals and families across Europe, helping to pave the way for a fairer, more inclusive future in fertility care.

Patients’ Recommendations

Patient-driven recommendations are integral to ongoing discussions, setting a “beacon” for the ethical provisions for gamete donation fertility treatments. These suggestions foster respectful and supportive environments for donor-conceived families and aim to balance the rights of donors, recipients, and future children. Our initiative reflects and amplifies our joint voices, aiming to influence policymakers towards creating a harmonised framework across Europe​. We strive to ensure that gamete donation policies are not only medically effective but also socially and ethically sound, creating lasting benefits for families and individuals seeking reproductive assistance. We hope our efforts will contribute to shaping fair, ethical, and accessible reproductive health policies.

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Download the patients’ recommendations

For inquiries:

Anita Fincham, Project & Advocacy Manager: anita@fertilityeurope.eu

Monika Bulmańska-Wingett, Office & Communication Manager: office@fertilityeurope.eu