What recipients tell their circle of acquiantances
According to a study conducted in Belgium (Baetens et al.), 36.1% of recipients haven't told anyone about egg donation treatment, except for the egg donor (each couple had to find a donor without anyone's assistance).
16% of recipients wanted, if possible, to make a secret of egg donation treatment, but they told about it to one or two relatives or close friends. 15.3% of patients told their family or close friends, while 32.6% of recipients were ready to easily disclose their reproductive problems (Baetens et al., 2000).
Other studies show that half of the patients told at least somebody from their close circle of acquaintances about having undertaken egg donation (Pettee and Weckstein, 1993; Weil et al., 1994).
The following reasons induced the patients to leave their egg donation treatment untold:
- fear to be misunderstood by those who live around them;
- conviction that infertility is a solely personal problem;
- desire to avoid the question about who is the true mother;
- child's well-being (to eliminate situations in which he or she will be treated by other people as a "peculiar" child);
- religious/culture-specific motives (publicity would have made the couple marginal).
Patients who were open about their treatment motivated their candidness to people around them for the following reasons:
- felt no reason to feel ashamed;
- wanted to get support from their family and friends;
- family and friends already knew about their infertility or a hereditary disease.
(Pettee and Weckstein, 1993; Weil et al., 1994).
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