Symbol to identify donor babies on birth certificates

Babies born from donor sperm or eggs will have a special symbol on their birth certificate under proposals unveiled today.

A powerful group of peers is calling for a Bill that would make it illegal to keep donor conception a secret.

They want every certificate to carry a symbol showing natural or donor birth amid fears that parents cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

The amendment to the human tissue Bill - signed by fertility expert Baroness Warnock - will be debated in the House of Lords today.

She told the Standard: "We need to make it more difficult for parents to deceive their children. It is awful that children can live completely unaware of the truth."

It comes after growing concern that increasing numbers of donor-conceived children will never know their heritage. But the proposal will provoke a fresh row over privacy because birth certificates are public documents - putting children at risk of exposure.

Campaigners said the plan could also force parents into a lifetime of lying. If they are "not ready" to inform registrars straight after birth they would be too frightened of prosecution to reveal the truth later, it was claimed.

This summer a parliamentary committee said certificates should include "by donor" if the child was conceived with donor eggs or sperm. But the Government rejected the proposal and its Human Tissue and Embryo Bill is now going through Parliament.

Lib-Dem peer Baroness Barker, who also drew up the amendment, said it was not good enough as it stands.

She added: "We want the birth certificate to indicate if a person has been born as a result of donor conception.

We are trying to find a way to minimise the potential hurt or distress either to the people or their parents.

"We want to know if it is possible to include a symbol on all certificates which indicates if a person was born after donor conception." She said the plan had support from across the house but that the symbol design was not finalised.

It would allow donor-conceived adults to find out genetic information about family members and prevent sexual relationships with relatives.

Olivia Montuschi, of the Donor Conception Network, said the move would put parents under too much pressure. "We want every parent to be open, but if it is a legal requirement that they should have informed the registrar it will be very hard to change their mind afterwards," she said.

Lib-Dem MP Phil Willis, who first suggested that donor information should be included, said: "It is not good enough to leave it to the parents, what if they decide not to tell them?"

An estimated 7,000 women receive treatment with donated eggs, sperm or embryos each year, leading to the births of 2,000 babies.