ABSTRACT
Within public health discourse there is a long tradition for associated agencies to provide patients with information on treatments and on how to avoid or minimize health related risk. This chapter examines the information that is made available to potential recipients of donor insemination (DI) and semen donors by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). It discusses the ways in which this information educates potential recipients of DI and donors of sperm by both constructing and reinforcing the normative use of DI; and reproduces normative families and parenthood. The chapter explains how the biomedical discourse through which the information is articulated constructs the use of DI as a legally regulated medical treatment for infertility whilst neutralising its impact as an alternative method for conceiving babies and constructing families. A consideration that reinforces the importance of reducing risks to family integrity is the attempts clinics will make to match donors with women's partners.
