'Gift without a price tag': altruism in anonymous semen donation

Abstract

Commercialization of human gametes is now legally prohibited in Canada under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act 2004, making semen donation in Canada altruistic and anonymous by law. Donors must be altruistically motivated to donate gametes without receiving monetary rewards. Globally speaking, Canada is neither the first nor the only country in the world that has legislation to support altruistic gamete donation. Other countries have advocated similar systems either through legislative changes or implementation of best practice models. This paper is a review of literature assessing the differences in donation behaviours under paid and altruistic donation models. It provides contextual information of the current semen donation situation in Canada, while drawing upon relevant literature and research data from other countries as references. The author also attempts to re-conceptualize the meanings of altruism through exploring the complex interplay between psycho-social and institutional factors in influencing donors' behaviours. Although there is a substantial amount of research studying the impacts on donor recruitment when payment is withdrawn, very few research studies are found that focus on exploring altruistic donor recruitment strategies. It is unrealistic to expect the altruistic donation culture to emerge spontaneously in Canada without any multi-level efforts to coordinate the recruitment strategies. Research programmes are greatly needed to generate empirical knowledge that can guide the development of altruistic donor recruitment models geared to the current socio-cultural environment and legislative framework in Canada. The findings will be invaluable when the legislation comes up for parliamentary review in the near future.