November 02, 2005

Child born from sperm donation traces father on Internet.

I've actually donated quite a bit of sperm in my life so hopefully this doesn't become a trend. I'm not sure exactly how I'd react if some kid e-mailed me to let me know that he shares my DNA.

posted by panoptican 19 years ago
  • sperm schmerm! I have 3 "egg babies" out there from ovum donation. while I consider myself to be as little connected to them as any sperm donor etc., I also realize that one day there may come a knock at the door. there has been a (little) bit of attention to this issue in the last few years, as these are newish technologies and lots of these offspring are just reaching adulthood (mine still have years to go) I will try to track down the article I read last year and post a link....I don't think its a big deal if the kid just wants to check in and maybe ask some family/med. history questions, but I wouldn't feel obligated to pursue a relationship beyond that.
  • I really wish this post didn't end with "more inside".. :(
  • That kid was a smart cookie to trace the donor. I think it's natural that you would be curious about where your DNA came from - but also important to be aware that a relationship with your DNA kin is probably unlikely.
  • ZombieBob wins.
  • Uh oh. I can certainly see a lot of conflicts and possible situations in the future...
  • Two things come to mind when reading your article there, Flagpole. One is that the woman in question just ruined it for all the other Swedish lesbians who want kids. The second is that Mr. Minda is right - Sweden is "Political correcness gone too far". Not that we don't have our own massive problems in that area... I'd really like to say that such a thing has no chance of ever happening in the U.S., but with our legal system's trend of not making anyone take personal responsibility for their actions, it just may.
  • Yeah, that Swedish case is interesting. It's not too specific on the details but it sounds like the biological father did not formally give up his parental rights and that maybe the arrangement was agreed upon verbally between him and the two lesbian parents. If that was the case, the informal nature of the arrangement maybe put them all at risk - he for being hit up for child support and them for having to allow visitation/partial custody if he ever decided to seek it some day. (IANASL, but I think I could play one on tv.)
  • IANASL: Is that "IAmNotASwedishLawyer" or "IAmNotASwedishLesbian?"
  • IANASLoL, though that looks like "IAmNotASwedishLaughter" and I think I could play either on tv.