'My Father Was an Anonymous Sperm Donor'

An editorial in the Washington Post by a young lady who was conceived via artificial insemination at a sperm donor bank.

...When she was 32, my mother -- single, and worried that she might never marry and have a family -- allowed a doctor wearing rubber gloves to inject a syringe of sperm from an unknown man into her uterus so that she could have a baby. I am the result: a donor-conceived child...

Note: The mother "allowed a doctor wearing rubber gloves to inject a syringe of sperm from an unknown man into her uterus." The sexual act is designed to both express love and create new life. That's how human beings function, biologically. Love and life are thus by their very natures meant to be intertwined. This is why contraception in all its forms distorts sex: It artifically destroys the life-giving properties of sex and puts constraints on love.

In the sperm donor bank scenario, we have a more rare distortion: new life is created, but the love part of the sexual equation is non-existent. Instead of the warmth of a love, we have the cold hands and steel instruments of a doctor.

Back to the article.

...I was angry at the idea that where donor conception is concerned, everyone focuses on the "parents" -- the adults who can make choices about their own lives. The recipient gets sympathy for wanting to have a child. The donor gets a guarantee of anonymity and absolution from any responsibility for the offspring of his "donation." As long as these adults are happy, then donor conception is a success, right?

...I'm here to tell you that emotionally, many of us are not keeping up. We didn't ask to be born into this situation, with its limitations and confusion. It's hypocritical of parents and medical professionals to assume that biological roots won't matter to the "products" of the cryobanks' service, when the longing for a biological relationship is what brings customers to the banks in the first place...

The full piece is definitely worth a read.

Hat tip, Diogenes .