Sperm &amp Essay Example

records or if they want to continue life the way it is. By being able to give them the option, children from sperm or egg donation would be able to live a happy life knowing everything they want to know about their background.

Some children from donor insemination just want to know the risks that they could suffer in life because of genetics. They want to know about the medical background and with the donors being privacy protected it makes it difficult for children of donors to find out this information. Without knowing about the biological parent it’s like half of the offspring’s health history is unknown. That leaves children of donor insemination wondering if they are at high risk of genetic diseases that can be passed down through genetics.

Douglas Quan writes an article about a woman from Ontario and how she faces trouble with the courts trying to figure out who her biological father might be. Olivia Pratten from Ontario is one of the thousands of Canadians who are the offspring’s of anonymous sperm and egg donors and she just wants to know the person that gave her life. She argues in court that not being able to receive records about her biological parent is like living with half her biological origins unknown and left a mystery. (Quan) It’s not fair that children conceived by donor insemination have no rights and are not respected, because of his or her mother’s choices.

When a woman looks to conceive a child through donor insemination they don’t think about how it will affect the child in the future they just want to be

able to raise a child. That’s why records should be kept so that the child has a choice when of age. Shelley Kreutz always felt different from other kids. She felt like she was adopted. She was the opposite of her mother and grandmother and built differently. Shelley was aware that she had to have a father somewhere. When Shelley was 10 she found out that she was conceived through sperm donation.

She was then relieved and felt normal because everything finally made sense to her. Shelley was happy and excited to know until she found out that none of her questions could ever be answered because her mother didn’t know anything about the donor. Shelley’s mother like very many other mothers wanting to conceive through sperm donation signed a contract with the doctor granting the donor be kept anonymous. When Shelley was 13 years old she met with the doctor that did the insemination. After several years of pleading her doctor she finally learned her father’s eye color, height, and weight.

The doctor told Shelley it was great that she wanted to know about her father but he wasn’t going to give her any information. Physicians encourage parents not to tell their children how they were conceived. Shelley’s mother was one of the many mothers that went against the physician’s advice and told her daughter. (McClelland) Children from sperm donation fight for rights every day, in and out of court trying to get rights just so they can get information about his or her biological father or mother in some cases. They argue that just because the mother signed the rights to

keep the donor anonymous doesn’t mean that he or she did.

Many sperm donors want the privacy law to stay the way it is, but some donors don’t mind if their offspring comes looking for them when they are adults. Some men that are married to women that already have children, don’t want any more, and feel the emotional need to father a child to help women that want to have one. In 1981, blood test weren’t performed because they weren’t required. All that was taken was a physical examination from just looking and personal history was jotted down, so if the offspring wanted to try to find the donor it would be impossible because there was no blood work just a physical examination. McClelland) “DI is something to be proud of, not something to be hidden,” says Jim, an Ontario professor that began donating sperm in 1976. He also states that “Parents who choose to have a family this way have a lot of courage. If I was a child, I would be interested in knowing all the sacrifices and love that brought me into this world. ” Egg donation also occurs a lot, some do it for money and some do it to just help people. From researching I’ve concluded that many women are more laid back than men about finding their real mothers.

Children will always love the parents that raised them, even if they came from sperm or egg donation. They just have the need to know about their background and want to know information about their paternal or maternal parents. Carrie Carpenter gave birth to fraternal twins at

47 years old, and it was all possible because of a woman named Lorrain Wilde. Lorraine Wilde was in grad school and strapped for money, so she donated eggs to the fertility clinic where Carrie received the eggs. Lorraine and Carrie exchanged small, meaningful gifts and notes through the clinic, anonymously.

Finally one day a card with a phone number, blacked out by the clinic but could still see the number when the card was held in the light, Carrie and Lorraine met. Over the years they formed a friendship. A few months after they first met, Carrie wrote again to Lorraine. “It is so important to know you and to have Nora and Emma know you. ” Carrie knew that it was risky to write that to Lorraine, but because of Carrie staying strong and letting Lorraine in her life the girls are thankful and happy.

The girls state that, “If we didn’t know Lorraine, that would be our deep, dark secret. ” Instead the girls know their egg mother and will be able to have a relationship with her. (Ostrom) It is important that children know the truth about their background even though his or her mother conceived through sperm or egg donation. Carrie knew it was a big risk to allow Lorraine into Nora and Emma’s life, but she knew it was the right thing to do, so that Nora and Emma could have the chance to know their egg mother and to know their background.

Many couples think that adoption is sometimes better than using an egg donor because donors are kept anonymous, and it is hard to

get background information. In Carol Ostrom’s article she has a couple’s point of view about donors. Kristin and Jim Yagle from Seattle adopted one child and have two born with the help from an egg donor. Leo, the adopted son, was adopted four years ago. The Yagle’s decided to try one last time at infertility treatment, using an egg donor. Through the egg donation Kristin and Jim Yagle now have 2 and a half year old Cooper and Carter.

Kristin and Jim are in touch with Leo’s birth mother, and plan on giving him the option to know his birth mother. “We kind of look at it that there are more people to love him” states Kristin, his adopted mother. Kristin and Jim know that their younger 2 boys will never have the option to know their egg mother, unlike Leo, the adopted son because of the privacy laws. Kristin imagines her younger boys at 18 or 22 trying to sort out who they are in the world, and hating Kristin and Jim because they can’t give them any information about their history because the law won’t allow them. Ostrom) Some couples want to be able to give their children the chance to know about his or her egg mother, but because of the privacy laws that clinics follow makes it impossible for couples to do. That’s why some couples choose adoption over fertility treatment. Different people have different opinions about whether or not egg or sperm donation should be kept private or if records should be available to the offspring’s. Not every donor wants to be kept anonymous. Clinics should be allowed to

ask the donor if he or she wants to be kept anonymous.

If donors choose to be kept anonymous then some detailed records should still be kept, so then offspring’s know that the clinic at least got more than a height, weight, and hair color from the donor. If donors don’t want to be kept anonymous the records should be kept with a name and history so that their offspring or offspring’s mother and father can keep in contact with the donors, so that they can know about the child’s life. All donors should donate because they want to help people, not only for financial compensation.

If a donor donates just to make money then that is leaving a child with an unknown background, and unanswered questions. Withholding all information because of privacy laws is not fair to the children that were conceived through sperm and egg donation. Donors should take into consideration how the child or children will feel growing up, wondering who they really are, and not being able to know anything about their background.

If records were kept for offspring’s to access it would relieve a lot of stress off children from donor nsemination, because there wouldn’t be unanswered questions about his or her background, and there wouldn’t be insecure feelings or doubts about if he or she really belongs to the family. It would also relieve stress from mother’s who had an egg or sperm donation, because they wouldn’t have to lie to their children. They would be able to answer questions that their child might have growing up. Even though doctors advise parents that receive sperm or

egg donation, parents should always be honest with their child or children. It would make the child less likely to be distant and keep the relationship with the child good.