Should Bionormativity Be a Concern in Gamete Donation?

An important argument against removing donor anonymity is that such state-mandated policies might validate bionormative attitudes about the importance of genetic relatedness in families. Bionormative attitudes can be unjustly disparaging and harmful to a wide range of families including donor-conceived, adopted, and single-parent families. However, studies show that the majority of donor-conceived individuals want donor anonymity removed. This paper explores the question of how to weigh these desires for knowing the donor-which may be grounded in biased and bionormative assumptions-against the competing concern that removing donor anonymity perpetuates attitudes that may be harmful.