Chapter authors: Sabrina Zeghiche, Isabel Côté, Marie-Christine Williams-Plouffe, & Renée-Pier Trottier-Cyr
Pages: 85-102
Book title: Donor-Linked Families in the Digital Age: Relatedness and Regulation
Book editors: Fiona Kelly, Deborah Dempsey, & Adrienne Byrt
Published online: July 2023
The experience of families who resort to donor sperm conception has been rather well documented. However, how this experience unfolds in the context of insemination fraud is for the most part still unknown. The focus so far has been on the ethical principles this fraud violates and the reasons why it has not been criminally charged. This chapter presents the results of an exploratory qualitative study carried out with 13 Canadian participants who were victims of insemination fraud. With a focus on the experience of the discovery of the insemination fraud by parents and donor-conceived offspring, this chapter discusses the trajectory of this discovery, the emotions associated with it, and its disclosure to minor children. Although the experience varies according to the nature of the fraud, and the circumstances of its discovery, common patterns can be observed: shock, sideration and disbelief, feelings of being betrayed by the medical institution.
