'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 .

I love making lists

First order of business is my latest column.

Secondly... well, it's probably better to do this in list format.

1. I was promoted to a Hot Copy shift at The Post, which means that I actually get paid!

2. I got to march in Ohio University's homecoming parade with my roomie Jenn and the Big Brothers/Big Sisters float.

3. I went to the homecoming football game with Jenn and another roomie, Maureen, and we got to see the band play. We slaughtered Buffalo (the team, not the animal).

4. On Monday I got to participate in the pro-life vigil here! We got some snide remarks from passer-by, but also a lot of smiles and some folks stopping to talk to us. It was coooold, but fun.

5. On Wednesday night, I got to spend a wonderful evening with Sister Mary Emily and Sister Alexandria of the Sisters of St. Cecilia. We had a home-made meal in the basement of St. Paul's, and the Sisters gave our little group of women their vocations talk. They remembered my sister, Sister Elizabeth, from when she went to visit them before she entered with the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word. "You look so familiar!" saith Sister Mary Emily. It's a small world.

Afterward we got to go upstairs and pray the rosary before the Tabernacle. Heavenly.

All in all, it has been a marvelous week. The kind I wish would never end.