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Clare Mansfield: Donor Conception Isn’t Just a Transaction
Clare Mansfield/Facebook
Aug 14, 2026, 16:55

Clare Mansfield: Donor Conception Isn’t Just a Transaction

Clare Mansfield, CEO and Founder of Flowering Fertility, shared on LinkedIn:

“Donor conception isn’t a transaction.

There is a future child at the centre of every decision.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot after reading recent reporting about sperm and egg donation being offered online in Ireland outside the regulated clinical system.

I come to this conversation from a very personal place.

Egg donation gave me my twin daughters.
I will forever be grateful for the extraordinary gift that made me a mother.

But becoming a parent through donor conception also taught me that this isn’t simply about getting the egg, finding the sperm or achieving the pregnancy.
There is another person in this story.
The child.

And one day that child may have questions about identity, genetics, siblings and where they came from.

Ireland has already taken important steps in recognising this. Donor-assisted reproduction within the regulated clinical system provides for identifiable donors and a National Donor-Conceived Person Register.

But our wider assisted reproduction legislation is still being brought into operation.

For me, the principle underneath all of this is simple.

  • Access matters.
  • Affordability matters.
  • Helping people become parents matters enormously.

But so do traceability, safety, identity and the future rights of the person we are helping to create.

As someone who desperately wanted to become a mother, I understand how powerful that longing can be.

As the mother of donor-conceived children, I also believe we have a responsibility to look beyond the pregnancy test.

Donor conception doesn’t end when a baby is born. In many ways, that’s where the story begins.”

Clare Mansfield: Donor Conception Isn’t Just a Transaction

Stay informed with the latest updates in fertility and reproductive medicine on Fertility News.

Clare Mansfield egg donation Fertility Fertility News National Donor-Conceived Person Register pregnancy reproductive health Reproductive Medicine
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