They fell in love - then had to check they weren't brother and sister
A French couple who met as adults discovered they were both donor-conceived and faced the possibility of being half-siblings due to anonymous sperm donation laws. The story highlights the legal and ethical complexities in France, where home DNA testing is criminalized to protect donor anonymity.
Why it matters
It underscores the tension between individual rights to genetic identity and state-mandated privacy laws in bioethics.
Image source, Courtesy of Audrey and Arthur Kermalvezen Image caption, Audrey and Arthur Kermalvezen met at a gathering of donor-conceived activists
For years, Arthur Kermalvezen, the child of a sperm donor, saw possible fathers everywhere he went. "I imagined it might be my teacher, the people I saw on the bus... and I was very angry because it's impossible to live like this."
When, as an adult, he fell in love with Audrey, another sperm donor baby from Paris, the question became even more pressing.
Audrey describes the moment they met at a gathering for donor conceived activists in 2010 as "love at first sight" - but was this connection a romantic or genetic attraction?
When they were born, there were only two sperm banks in Paris and many men had made multiple donations - so there was a real possibility they could be half-siblings.
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