A Canadian journalist is fighting a legal battle to find out who her sperm donor father is. Olivia Pratten, 28, and her mother want to examine the records of IVF doctor Gerald Korn, although the retired doctor says that they were destroyed in the 1990s. Ultimately Ms Pratten’s goal is to end a regime of donor anonymity and to make it possible for IVF children to contact their biological fathers. The British Columbia government opposes her demands, saying that if she cannot subpoena records which do not exist, neither can she sue on behalf of other anonymous sperm donor children. The Prattens contend that the records may not have been destroyed.

Ms Pratten argues that IVF should be treated like adoption. Adopted children in BC are allowed to access information about their birth parents. "This case really is about recognition — it's about recognizing that donor conception does matter, that people who want to know their biological information do matter," Pratten says. "If you don't want to be identified, don't be a donor, it's that simple."

A BC court is studying whether to allow her request to be heard.

Ms Pratten has been campaigning for years for the abolition of donor anonymity. She says on her website, “As the debate rages about donor anonymity, research has shown that the majority of people conceived this way don't even know about it. My own parents were counseled to not tell me. So before forming an opinion about this, I always ask people to put themselves in my shoes: if you found out tomorrow that your dad wasn't your biological father, could you honestly say that you would be satisfied never knowing who he was? And furthermore, would you tolerate being told you had no right to find out?” ~ CBC News, Sept 30