Present Status of Donor Insemination in Belgium

Abstract

It is impossible to determine today who performed the first donor insemination(AID) in Belgium, our colleagues who were thought to be interested in this technique being no longer alive. One can state, however, that it is most unlikely that any donor insemination took place in Belgium before the second world war. It is probable that it was first practiced in the mid-1940,s or early 1950’s. There are no data available since the cases were obviously very few and since the general consensus of doctors in our country in those days was most certainly hostile to the principle of donor insemination. Therefore, those very few who actually handled some cases would not have published their results. Even so, it is estimated that up to the mid-1950’s, roughly one hundred pregnancies were obtained by this technique. It also must be taken into consideration that these cases were few, not only because of doctors’ negative attitudes, but also because of a very low number of demands. Indeed, in the 1940’s and 1950’s, adoption was not as difficult as it is today and therefore, the need for AID was not so acute when infertility in a couple was due to a male factor. Furthermore, due to traditionalism and lack of information, the acceptance of AID by the public was very limited.