Open-ID Egg Donation in Portugal: A More Transparent Path to Parenthood

Building a family doesn’t always happen the way we expect. For many people, whether couples facing infertility, single women, or same-sex couples, donor conception becomes not just a medical pathway, but an emotional and deeply personal journey.

In recent years, one option has stood out as particularly thoughtful and future-focused: Open-ID donation. And in Europe, Portugal has quietly become one of the strongest and most ethically robust places to pursue it.

At clinics like Ferticentro, Open-ID donation isn’t treated as a trend or an add-on feature. It is embedded in the legal system, supported by structured counselling, and backed by a donor program designed with long-term transparency in mind.

But what exactly does Open-ID mean? Why are so many intended parents choosing it? And why does Portugal offer a framework that many consider stronger than neighboring countries such as Spain?

This article explains the concept clearly, explores the ethical thinking behind it, and walks you through what families can realistically expect, now and in the future.
What Open-ID donation means s how it works in practice

• At its core, Open-ID donation – also called non-anonymous donation or open-identity donation – means that a person who donates sperm or eggs consents to having their identity accessible to the person born from that donation when they reach adulthood. Practically, this looks like:
• Donor Profile Access: Prospective recipients get detailed information about donors well before selecting one; covering physical traits, personality factors, education, and sometimes more personal elements.
• Confidentiality Until Adulthood: While personal identifying details remain confidential during childhood, the law allows a donor-conceived adult to access identifying information once they turn 18 and express a wish to know.
• Ethical Oversight: Clinics follow strict protocols for screening donors, including genetic and infectious disease testing and psychological assessments, to protect both donors and recipients.

At the clinic level, as at Ferticentro, the Open-ID donor model isn’t just a bureaucratic requirement; it’s integrated into how donor banks operate and how decisions about which donor to use are made. Prospective parents are supported with donor coordination teams, comprehensive profiles, and follow-up counselling as part of the selection and treatment process.

The Idea and Principles Behind Open-ID Donation

The rise of Open-ID donation reflects broader ethical and social values in reproductive medicine. At its heart are three foundational principles:

1. Respect for Future Identity and Psychological Well-Being

Knowing one’s genetic origins is increasingly recognized not merely as medical data but as part of personal identity and psychological health. For many donor-conceived adults, access to information about their donor can be deeply meaningful. It can provide clarity about medical family history, reassure about biological roots, and contribute to a fuller sense of personal identity.

2. Safety and Transparency

Open-ID donors tend to be more informed, better screened, and more prepared for the long-term implications of their decision. Clinics like Ferticentro carry out extensive medical screening, genetic testing, and psychological assessments to ensure donor suitability. Beyond screening donors individually, Ferticentro also offers genetic compatibility matching between the recipient and the selected donor – testing up to 2,200 gene mutations – to reduce the risk of inherited genetic disorders in children born from donation.

3. Ethical Accountability

Open-ID donation discourages ambiguous or hidden practices. From a legal and ethical standpoint, this model ensures that parental rights and donor statuses are clearly defined and upheld. Donors have no parental rights, and children born from donation have the right to access to their genetic origins, without creating legal claims over the parents who raised them.

This approach aligns with growing global discussions on reproductive rights, autonomy, and the value of informed consent. Rather than isolating donors and recipients through strict anonymity, Open-ID donation positions both parties in an ethically transparent, supportive framework.

Why Portugal offers a particularly strong framework for Open-ID donors

Portugal’s approach to Open-ID donation is not only progressive, in many respects it is one of the most donor-and-recipient-friendly frameworks in Europe.

1. Legal Requirement for Non-Anonymous Donation

In 2018, Portugal’s Constitutional Court ruled that anonymous donation of gametes (eggs and sperm) was unconstitutional, effectively ending anonymous donation in the country. As a result, all post-2018 gamete donations operate under a non-anonymous (Open-ID) regime, meaning donor-conceived adults can access information about their donor when they reach age 18.
This legal foundation creates consistency and clarity for patients and clinics alike: recipients know upfront that donors are non-anonymous, and children conceived via donation have lasting rights to their genetic origins.

2. Protection and Rights of Donor-Conceived People

Portuguese law mandates that donor details are maintained for a minimum of 75 years and that donor identity can be accessed when the child is legally mature. This long-term preservation of data ensures that medical history and biological heritage remains available for a long period of time.

3. Quality, Choice s Diversity in Donor Banks

Ferticentro operates the largest open-ID donor bank in Portugal, with a diverse selection of donors so that recipients can find the most suitable biological match.

4. Ethical and Psychological Support

Both donors and recipients are offered counselling and support. Alongside the psychological assessment conducted as part of the donor screening process, donor counselling prepares donors for potential future contact, and recipient counselling helps intended parents navigate emotional and ethical dimensions of donor selection and disclosure decisions.

How Portugal Differs from Spain and Other Countries

Comparing Portugal with other European countries, especially Spain, highlights distinct philosophical and legal approaches to donor identity:

Spain: Donor Identity Is Strictly Anonymous

In Spain, egg and sperm donation operate under a system of legal anonymity. Donors’ identities cannot be disclosed to recipients or donor-conceived offspring, even later in life.
This creates very different dynamics:

• Access vs lack of access to identifying information: Recipients in Spain receive limited donor information focused on medical criteria and phenotypic traits but not identifying details.
• Psychological closure vs lifelong uncertainty: Donor-conceived adults in Spain do not have a legal pathway to know their donor’s identity, often resulting in enduring uncertainty and ongoing challenges in identity formation and psychological integration over the life course.
• Ease of donation vs long-term identity access: The Spanish model prioritises donor confidentiality, which many clinicians argue can encourage higher donor numbers but limits genetic heritage access. In contrast, Portugal’s Open-ID model empowers donor-conceived individuals with future choices without compromising the safety or legal roles of donors or parents.

Information and Features Available to the Recipient Now and in the Future

Immediate Information for Recipient

When selecting an Open-ID donor at clinics like Ferticentro, recipients can expect the following standards and information:

• Extended donor profiles covering physical traits (e.g., height, eye colour), educational background, hobbies, aspirations, and personality traits, within legal limits.
• Donors are comprehensively screened for genetic and infectious diseases, with psychological evaluations conducted to confirm suitability before being made available for selection.
• Optional genetic compatibility matching between recipient and donor, testing for shared gene mutations across up to 2,200 genes.

This depth of information supports informed, thoughtful decision-making.

Long-Term Future Access

• At age 18+, donor identity access: Children born from donation have the right to obtain identity information, should they choose to access it.
• Health and hereditary information: Future adults have access to available genetic information concerning the donor, which may provide valuable insight for ongoing medical care and family planning.
• Confidential but accessible database: Information is maintained securely, balancing individual privacy with rights to identity access when appropriate.

This dynamic access to data is one of the key advantages of Portugal’s Open-ID system.

Clinical Case

The following patient clinical case at Ferticentro illustrates how these ethical and legal frameworks translate into real-world patient care.

It highlights the journey of a Spanish patient pursuing single motherhood through donor conception in Portugal, motivated not only by treatment access, but mostly by the possibility of future transparency for her child through the Open-ID model, since in Spain, when sperm donation is required, the child born will never have access to the information. The case also reflects the importance of individualized genetic counselling and multidisciplinary support in modern reproductive medicine.

This is a 36-year-old Spanish patient pursuing a single-parent project, who chose to undergo treatment in Portugal due to the Portuguese legislation regarding non-anonymous donation. The patient has no relevant personal or gynecological medical history. She is nulligravida (a woman who has never been pregnant) and previously underwent oocyte cryopreservation at the age of 31 in Spain.

Family history is notable for retinitis pigmentosa (maternal grandfather). The patient’s mother underwent genetic testing, with no genetic alterations identified. The case was evaluated by our geneticist, and the patient was informed that, although no genetic alterations were identified in her mother, carrier status for a possible X-linked retinopathy cannot be completely excluded.
She was further explained that, since no genetic cause has been identified within the family, it is not possible to assess the recurrence risk of the disease in the embryos, and therefore, there is no indication for PGT-M. The patient is currently in the process of donor selection. She opted for genetic matching, and the results will be discussed during a genetics consultation.

Conclusion

Open-ID donation represents a modern, ethical, and person-centered approach to fertility treatment. In Portugal, supported by a clear legal framework and clinics like Ferticentro, it provides prospective parents with transparency, choice, and ethical confidence while ensuring donor-conceived adults retain lifelong access to their identity.
This inclusivity, coupled with high quality clinical practices and psychological support, is why Open-ID donation is considered one of the best choices for families seeking donor-based fertility treatments in Portugal.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is an Open-ID donor, and how does this differ from anonymous donation?

An Open-ID donor is a person who donates eggs or sperm under a non-anonymous donation model, meaning they consent to the possibility that the individual born from those donated gametes can access identifying information about them upon reaching legal adulthood.

Under this model:

• Recipients receive detailed profiles of potential donors before selection: including physical and personal characteristics, without revealing identifying details upfront.
• Donor-conceived individuals can, at age 18, request access to the donor’s identity.
• Donors have no parental rights or legal obligations toward children born from their donation, but they must be prepared for the possibility that identity may be accessed later in life.

In contrast, anonymous donation, commonly found in countries like Spain, preserves the donor’s identity confidentially, and neither the recipient nor the offspring has legal access to identifying information. The anonymity model prioritizes privacy and confidentiality, whereas Open-ID prioritizes transparency and the right to identity for donor-conceived individuals.

2. Why is Open-ID donation considered advantageous for future children?

Open-ID donation recognizes that access to biological and genetic information can have significant lifelong benefits for donor-conceived persons. There are several key advantages:

• Identity and psychological development: Having the possibility to learn about their genetic origins may help donor-conceived individuals develop a stronger sense of personal identity and support their emotional well-being.
• Medical history access: Knowing the donor’s genetic and health background can be important for medical care, allowing individuals to make informed choices about preventive health and family planning.
• Controlled and supported access: Under Portuguese law, donor information is maintained in confidential records, and if a donor-conceived person chooses to access this information after age 18, the process is facilitated within a regulated, ethical framework, with clinics like Ferticentro supporting this process.

Overall, Open-ID balances privacy with future access, allowing individuals to decide when (or if) they want to explore their genetic origins, a fundamental aspect of personal history that anonymous models do not guarantee.

3. How does Portugal’s legal framework support Open-ID donation?

Portugal stands out in Europe for its legal requirement that gamete donations be non-anonymous. In 2018, the Portuguese Constitutional Court declared anonymous donation unconstitutional, requiring all future donations to be open-identity by default.

This framework means:

• Donor identity information is retained and accessible to donor-conceived adults once they turn 18.
• Records are maintained securely for a minimum of 75 years as required under Portuguese law (Law No. 32/2006), ensuring long-term preservation of data.
• Donors are fully informed of this consenting process, ensuring ethical compliance and transparency.

Through this legal structure, Portugal fully integrates Open-ID principles into everyday clinical practice, enabling families and individuals to build transparent, supported reproductive journeys.

4. What types of information about donors are available to recipients and future donor-conceived adults?

In Open-ID systems like Ferticentro’s:

• Immediate recipient access (pre-treatment): Prospective parents can view extensive donor profiles that include physical features, education, hobbies, personal narratives, and health information, all without identifying data.
• Long-term access (post-18 years): Donor-conceived adults may request identifying details about their donor and any updated health or genetic history retained by the clinic or central registers.
• Medical and genetic data: Those who choose to access these records may obtain information relevant to their own medical care and family planning decisions.

While photo sharing of adult donors is legally forbidden, extended profiles aim to provide enough personal detail to make thoughtful, informed donor selections without compromising privacy.

5. Are there ethical concerns with Open-ID donation, and how are they addressed?

Like any fertility option, Open-ID donation raises ethical questions, particularly around donor privacy, future contact, and the psychological impact on donor-conceived individuals. Clinics and regulators address these concerns through:

• Informed consent: Donors receive comprehensive counselling and assessment, ensuring they understand what open donation entails, including the possibility of future contact.
• Confidential privacy protocols: While identity access is available later in life, it’s carefully regulated, and donors and offspring can pursue contact only if they choose to do so.
• Recipient support: Both donors and recipients are offered counselling and support throughout the process. Donors are prepared for the possibility of future contact, while recipients are supported in navigating the emotional and ethical dimensions of donor selection and treatment.

This integrated ethical framework ensures openness doesn’t compromise personal boundaries, it simply expands options responsibly and transparently.

Authors: Dr Simone Subtil, Obstetrician-Gynaecologist and Dr Ana Torgal, Managing Director and Medical Doctor Specialist in Laboratory Medicine, at Ferticentro, Portugal