Sperm donor's daughter to meet her father

Should children conceived through artificial insemination have the right to know the identity of their biological fathers? As debate rages in Britain about the desirability of releasing information about sperm donors to their offspring, one Californian teenager is about to come face to face with the man who made her mother's pregnancy possible.

Her name is Claire, she lives in Palo Alto, south of San Francisco, and she is the first American "test-tube baby" to be granted access to crucial information about her natural father. Since turning 18 at the end of last year, she has had his name, his driving licence number, his date and place of birth, his e-mail, telephone number and street address. She even has a photograph. Claire has not made contact with him but she intends to as soon as the media brouhaha dies down.

"I don't know if I look like him, I think I look like my mom," she said at the weekend.

In 1982, her mother went to one of the world's most progressive artificial insemination clinics, the Sperm Bank of California. One of its innovations, introduced as Claire was about to be conceived, was a voluntary system of disclosure for children who wanted to find out about their fathers once they reached adulthood.

Claire's father waived his right to anonymity and Claire, when she became 18, asked the Sperm Bank to tell her who he was. "I want to meet him because he is half my heritage; it's a part of my life I don't know about," she said. "I'm trying to be realistic ... The guy may disappoint me or I may disappoint him."