They fell in love - then had to check they weren't brother and sister

Arthur Kermalvezen, a donor‑conceived man, spent years imagining possible fathers wherever he went. He said, "I imagined it mightiness beryllium my teacher, the radical I saw connected the bus... and I was precise aggravated due to the fact that it's intolerable to unrecorded similar this." When, as an adult, he fell in love with Audrey, another donor‑conceived person from Paris, the question became even more pressing. Audrey describes the moment they met at a gathering for donor‑conceived activists in 2010 as "love at first sight"—but was this connection romantic or familial? At the time of their births, only two sperm banks operated in Paris and many men made multiple donations, creating a real possibility they could be half‑siblings. Before building a life together, Arthur and Audrey needed to know whether they were related. Yet in France, laws governing genetic testing and donor anonymity made obtaining an answer extremely difficult. In France, only a research scientist, doctor, or judge may order and supervise a genetic test, and individuals can be fined more than €3,500 ($4,288; £3,191) for possessing a home‑testing kit. Consequently, companies such as 23andMe, Ancestry and MyHeritage do not make their kits available in the country. Supporters of the law, in place since 1994, argue it protects sensitive genetic information from commercial firms and prevents family disputes caused by unexpected results. Arthur notes that France remains the only European state that criminalises the use of such tests. Even before her parents told her as an adult that she was donor‑conceived, Audrey had qualified as a lawyer specialising in bioethics law. Because of this, she fully understood that French legislation had guaranteed donor anonymity, even after a donor's death. However, Audrey had been conceived in 1979, before any such legislation existed. While searching for other donor‑conceived individuals born before 1994, Audrey encountered Arthur. He had written a book detailing his desire to learn more about his biological origins. Audrey says she was struck by how precisely he expressed feelings she herself had struggled to articulate.