Why is sperm donation legal?

[HomeschoolDad]

“My friend’s cousin used to live across the street from a family who adopted a foster child and that kid burned down their house!”

I’m sure there are documented cases of biological children burning down their parents’ houses as well.

They would definitely need their paper route money docked

(Oh, sorry, I’m dating myself, kids don’t pass papers anymore. I am getting old.)

 

[Mulligan2]

We live in a pluralistic society. Not everything that we as Catholics find objectionable needs to be illegal.

 

[rosejmj]

Adoption is also a very expensive and time intensive process. It’s much cheaper to pay for a spent donor and plus the woman gets a biological child

 

[rosejmj]

It is true though that there is more likely to be emotional and behavioral issues with a child adopted from foster care or later in life. Obviously they deserve a loving home, but some people just won’t do a good job raising kids with issues that need extra help. I know someone who fostered kids and it’s really sad what those kids go through and how hard it is to escape abuse. They often just keep getting sent back to live with abusive family members and it’s really hard to adopt them due to legal issues and the foster care system

 

[rosejmj]

I mean people obviously have preferences. Like most people prefer having their own biological children. I don’t see the Church encouraging people to adopt kids in need of a home before making their own biological children. If it’s so bad for someone who uses a sperm donor to choose that over adoption, it’s almost as bad or equally as bad for someone to choose not to adopt because they want to have biological kids.

 

[phil19034]

I agree that the adoption process should be made easier… we have made it very difficult for some crazy reason.

If we think about it, adoption should not be a harder and more expensive process than IVF. Things are really backwards here.

 

[rosejmj]

Well, IVF is pretty expensive also. But getting a sperm donor for artificial insemination is not too expensive

 

[MNathaniel]

“Why is sperm donation legal?… No one cares except Christians, who are becoming fewer and fewer…”

cough

You answered your own question, there.

 

[JMMJ]

How would you enforce a law against it?

 

[Dlee]

I find it sad and irresponsible that it is legal for men to donate sperm to multiple women so that children can grow up without fathers

First, this is very simplistic and not true. Many married couples use sperm donation to have a family. With the legalization of abortion, there are less infants available for adoption. Many, for whatever reason, want an infant rather than an older child. So, there is a market for sperm and egg donors and surrogates. The process is regulated and not inexpensive (the man doesn’t just go over to the woman’s house for thirty minutes…) In the U.S., frozen sperm has been used since the mid-80s due to concerns over aids and such. Couples facing infertility are hurting. When medicine offers them an option, they often take it if they can afford it.

Now, the Catholic side of this topic teaches this is not how God plans families. Just because we want children doesn’t mean we will have children.

 

[BornInMarch]

I find it sad and irresponsible that it is legal for men to donate sperm to multiple women so that children can grow up without fathers, that one man could have so many children. Then later when they grow up, they may end up dating one another and not know that they are brother and sister…

I’ve heard that there are varying levels of regulation on sperm donation depending on the country. For example, in some countries men can only donate twice specifically to avoid accidental incest.

As for parentage, sperm donations are most often used by couples that can’t produce children biologically (i.e. a husband and wife where the husband is infertile) so the child will be raised by parents. As for the “children need a mother and a father” argument, that doesn’t hold up to scientific rigor - scientists looked into people who were raised by same-sex couples and those children were just as likely to be mentally and emotionally healthy as children raised by opposite-sex couples.

 

[Dlee]

in some countries men can only donate twice

And many sperm banks only allow a certain number of donations. I don’t know if it is still true, but large medical centers had donor programs - the future docs earned some extra money.

 

[Rozellelily]

That’s very unfortunate!
But really, these kids come with baggage and I think often couples that adopt make the mistake of treating them like a “fresh slate” child, just expecting that they can discipline the child like normal and that this child will just respond in turn and respect them etc, and when the child doesn’t, and instead responds with anger outbursts or other things, then they often say “what is wrong with this child”, and say this child is too hard etc.
The blame is solely placed on the child, but these children need to be treated with patience and in a special way. The may have emotional dysregulation issues from have alcoholic or abusive parents, including their mothers drinking when pregnant. If from foster care they could have trust issues and test people to see if they will also reject them like others have etc.

Instead of just expecting a “clean slate child” that will just slide into place" into the family, and automatically love them on tap, why can’t people make an effort to understand the child’s emotions?

 

[JMMJ]

Many people just aren’t up to it. They don’t have the capacity and/ or the ability.

 

[Rozellelily]

So society should just be degraded to allow bad things like abortion and men commodifying their sperm to impregnate multiple women and it doesn’t matter how dysfunctional this is?

Isn’t it Catholics responsibilities to at least try to change acceptance of these things? Perhaps without success, but to just say “oh well, not my problem” is that a good thing either?

With that sort of reasoning, then the Catholics might as well also do or say nothing when they see other harmful changes to society like children being taught gender-fluid ideology by schools.

I am starting to get the impression that Catholics while still see abortion as bad, many are not even seeing this as also a bad thing anymore because they have become so conditioned to think that IVF is normal and that a baby is a right for everyone, regardless of the means to get it.
And people have been so conditioned to seeing absent fathers in society that they now think its no big deal??

Children have a right to be raised by their biological parents wherever possible. Even if the children as adults never unknowingly date, how on earth could anyone think that it is ok for one man to impregnate multiple women across the country?

If men are going to be “a service” this way, then we also have to accept other “human services” like prostitution.

Unless a client is married, at least prostitution affects only two people, but this “act” affects children’s lives.

And what about the dignity of men? We often talk about the women’s dignity but is this dignity for man to just be reduced to a sperm bank like milking a cow (regardless of whether he is doing it for money or from the delusional belief of helping others)?

 

[Rozellelily]

This is going to sound harsh and maybe too harsh, but maybe that is the problem of people today.
People have become selfish where they think “I want a perfect baby, and I want it in xyz timing. I want he/she to be beautiful and intelligent, and I want a perfect family that I can take nice photos for social media,. I don’t want the child to be physically “ugly”, and I don’t want it to be difficult in any way. I plan to have the babies by the year and age of xyz. Just in case I will freeze my eggs” etc…

Everything is so much I want. Why not let God decide, and value equally the difficult child, the classically unattractive one, the one with Down’s Syndrome or with Autism etc?

I understand that often the adoption processes themselves are too difficult and draining and put people off, but regarding the child themselves they vary in “difficulties” levels, plus agencies should skill couples to empower them.

 

[Mulligan2]

So instead of the “persuasive power” of our argument, let’s use the “coercive power” of government to force people to do (or not do) exactly what WE think they should be doing (or not doing).

Good luck with that.

 

[Rozellelily]

Rosejmj
I can’t see them on the same level because sperm donation and IVF is not a natural process. It has removed God and nature from the process/equation and instead of babies being made in the bedroom, so to speak, they are made in the lab or in diy home lab.

Sex results potentially in “baby making”. That’s how “the system was set up”. Sex was made for emotional closeness, physical pleasure, and for potential baby, and human beings chemistry follow this “marvelous creation” in the way of hormone release like Oxytocin etc.
The “perfect system” should not to be isolated and separated where instead a man has sex with a cup (so to speak lol), and then…well we know the rest of the story.
It shouldn’t be a cold scientific process- as a means within itself, if that makes sense.

Science should be used for good, not to interfere with and override Gods system. One day science may advance to where we can successfully clone humans. Just because something can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done.

I get the preference to pass ones’ genes down, but adoption doesn’t have to be instead but in addition.

CATHOLIC CHURCH ENCOURAGES ADOPTION TO CREATE OR EXPAND A FAMILY | OC Catholic

 

[Rozellelily]

Good luck with that.

Yeah I know. Governments don’t care what christians think. But at least it’s better to try than not. No one feels comfortable to say anything because the only acceptable viewpoint in western societies is in support.

 

[Rozellelily]

As for the “children need a mother and a father” argument, that doesn’t hold up to scientific rigor -

Studies carried out and funded by organisations with a bias leaning against this value.
How many were surveyed?
And did they include in their survey all the US prisons full of predominantly black male prisoners with absent or neglectful fathers?
Of course not, because that reality would have gone against those researchers bias.

And if success is defined by a lack of mental illness, emotional stability, and able to hold down a career, then they are right. But if you define success also on keeping to good values, then that’s a different story. I would bet that majority of those who were raised in same-sex households also now as adults do not believe in the need for differences for the genders, and that most are supportive of same -sex marriages now themselves, and that also believe themselves now that there is no need for a child to have a biological mother and father (wherever possible).
So even if you take the view that a child does not need mother and father to become a reasonable citizen with a job and money, they still need mother-father to teach them values. As the English saying is “if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything”.
And they need that balance of masculine and feminine to learn this within themselves. And by feminine, I don"t mean as in one guy playing the role of the woman

I would also bet money that if the Catholic Church funded similar studies, and included traditional values as one of the success determinants, the results would contradict the findings that you mentioned.

And the ironic thing is that even some people who were raised by same-sex couples have themselves stated that they believe in traditional marriage or children’s right to know their biological parent.
And I think they naturally know more that any biased researcher knows…

Be careful how how you interpret results of studies Often they are biased studies with flaws presented in mass media as “facts”. And a lot of the powerful medical societies are pro gay marriage…so.

Quote:
***"Family structure and the lack of paternal involvement are predictive of juvenile delinquency. The more opportunities a child has to interact with his or her biological father, the less likely he or she is to commit a crime or have contact with the juvenile justice system (Coley and Medeiros, 2007).

** A study of female inmates, more than half came from a father-absent home (Snell, Tracy, & Morton, 1991)**

****A high percentage of gang members come from father-absent homes (Davidson, 1990)

'There was always something missing': child of lesbian parents speaks up - triple j

https://www.mnpsych.org/index.php?o...log&view=entry&category=industry%20news&id=54