Mapping the Law and Policy Context

Our interview study was informed by a policy-mapping exercise. We conducted an analysis of the regulatory context in which post-2005 UK donors donate, an attempt to map out the laws and policies which frame what it means to donate in an ‘open’ context. Findings from our policy analysis are detailed in Chapter 1 and inform our analysis throughout the book.

Between January and May 2017, we identified 61 policy documents in which the rights, roles and obligations of donors, or donors' families, were either directly discussed or implicated (summarised in Table 2.1). ¹ These included legal documents, public consultations, transcripts of parliamentary debates, professional guidance to infertility counsellors and a range of documents published by the HFEA. The documents were identified and selected via prior knowledge of the regulatory context, consultation of socio-legal academic studies in this area, browsing the HFEA website, discussion with HFEA staff and through contacts with British Infertility Counselling Association (BICA) members.

The documents were read and coded with the support of NVivo software. The first stage of coding was descriptive, identifying which aspects of policies were relevant to donors and categorising how exactly they were implicated. For example, different codes were used to categorise where and how policies discussed the donor's role in relation to various aspects of the process (e.g. payment, testing of gametes, selection of donors). The researchers read the data, looking for patterns and anomalies in the ways that laws and policies positioned donors. HFEA working papers and parliamentary debates were then read and coded in an attempt to explain patterns identified and to trace the logic and discourses behind the final policy decisions made.