Meet the couple who tried to get sperm on Reddit
thespinoff.co.nz/parenting/17-10-2017/meet-th...
thespinoff.co.nzPosted Oct 17, 2017, 12:16 AM UTC
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thespinoff.co.nzThe combination of not being allowed to be compensated, plus the fact it cannot be donated anonymously which means there is always potential that someone could knock on your door years later and impact your life - both have a lot to do with reticence on the part of donors. We have less problems finding people to donate blood or plasma although the effort is the same....my guess is anonymity is a big factor.
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knock on your door years later and impact your life
Eh, if you're not ready for that, you shouldn't be donating. Allowing anonymity is fucked up for the kids sake. They didn't agree to that shit.
Compensation.... its only fair to compensate people for their time, but you don't want to encourage people to do it for the money, that's going to cause people not to think through the consequences.
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Allowing anonymity is fucked up for the kids sake. They didn't agree to that shit.
I really don't see your point. The kid will share DNA with the biological father, but that's about the extent of it. There's no abandonment, no legal status.. there's no lack of love. If anything the Father has just done a good thing for two people struggling to have a baby.
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the kid
You mean the human being, eventual adult, person with human rights? I think you're not getting my point because you're just seeing these offspring as random little kids.
I also share medical history with that sperm donor, and as someone with Crohn's disease, Cancer, and a few other problems, that information is extremely relevant to me. I'm also pretty keen to avoid accidental incest. And I'm just plain curious, and there's nothing wrong with that. What if he turns out to be Ewen Mcdonald? I look a bit like him. People who study their genealogy like knowing random trivia, eg, being related to Ned Kelly, the Queen of England, etc. You could say there's no point in this either, especially since they will never meet all of these relatives they're studying, but people are clearly interested in it.
Also, I didn't agree to have an anonymous biological parent. If mum had had me from a one night stand instead, and got together with my father soon after and adopted me, we'd be in the same situation. Would you feel the same way about me wanting to know these things about my biological father in that case?
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That sounds great... and in an ideal world I would agree with you, but the problem is that we can't find men willing to donate due to a lack of anonymity, so that's the problem. We have willing prospective parents that are on never ending waiting lists, and in that respect I feel alot of sympathy for the hopeful parents.
On the biological side, I would agree with you in that we need pre-screening of hereditary illnesses prior to being a donor. If it comes down to a decision between a persons right to know their biological parent in the case of a donor, or hopeful parents not being able to have a child due to a lack of donors, I simply side with the latter.
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I wonder how much they paid the intern to arrange all those bean sprouts.
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You mean the mungy shot?
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Actually a pretty interesting read. Never knew the 'stock' situation was so dire. The zero compensation rule is pretty naff. No right to anonimity bites quite badly as well, but I think you'd get some more uptake with that bulk compensation plan.
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They've come to the right place Reddit is full of wankers :P
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Damn, I used to play basketball with the dude who wrote this. And he clearly reads reddit.
Sup Joel.
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Yep, was registered 7 years ago, only one comment, what a waste of potential.
edit u/sperm
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I can understand it's a bit daunting! But maybe this will encourage some people to start donating anonymously.
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You can't donate anonymously? Not legally of course. I'd be all for it if you could, money wouldn't be an issue for me either. I don't want a phone call 18-20 years later and hearing "hey, I'm that sperm you left in a test tube".
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Yeah the hole in the bathroom wall at caltex is pretty anonymous
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I don't want a phone call 18-20 years later and hearing "hey, I'm that sperm you left in a test tube".
Yeah, bad news, that tube of sperm is gonna grow up to be a person with rights.
I'm pretty fucked off that it was legal to do it anonymously back in the day, especially given the Cancer, Crohn's disease, and lack of medical history
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Y'know, I can understand the main reasoning is so your biological offspring can check to see your medical history, too see if there are any genetic problems they could potentially be afflicted by, and I support that, I think that they should be allowed to access medical files/data at any time.
But I also think that personally contacting the person, who had nothing to do with your upbringing asides providing the seed, is step too far.
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Oh sorry I missed that, I thought you gave details to the clinic but not to parents
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Do we get to crucify Spinoff for stealing reddit stories?
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Nah, they did a follow up for us
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I'd be ok with donating. It's not a big ask.
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Except it is because youll never be able to interact with your child.
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If he/she has two loving parents, I am ok with that. Or even one loving parent, tbh.
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Draft
Donor bill of rights:
1 - right to be anonymous - it is quite simply enough to provide a genetic sample so that issues relating to inherited disorders can be answered (and it is important to remember that not all genetic disorders have been identified). Additionally, I would argue that samples should be sequenced and that the sequencing results only be available via mediated, extremely specific access that does not reveal the identify of the donor. Matters of gene expression can be handled to detailed textual characterization, but not via photos/head shots or any other method that would allow the donor to be visually identified. Parents and offspring of a donor should not be allowed to use genetic sequencing of the donor to search other databases for the identity of the donor.
2 - protection from law enforcement and government profiling - donor genetic sequence databases shall not be available to law enforcement or any other government agency for any reason. If there's a criminal legal matter that needs to be settled via genetic identification, this can be done by obtaining a specimen from suspects. Genetic information should be protected even from "innocuous" scientific research and medical investigation (beyond that which the parents or resulting offspring require and specifically request). Donors shall be allowed to use their genetic information, in combination with contribution details, to defend themselves for litigation.
3 - compensation - donors should be allowed compensation and be allowed to establish their own compensation requirements (material/monetary). Donors with more in demand genetic expression should be allowed to donate to as many recipients as are able to afford the donor's compensation. Donors shall be screened for expressed and recessive genetic characteristics. Additionally, epigenetic characteristics and risks shall be documented and quantified. Minimum standards for the removal of clinically diagnosable potential genetic outcomes must be established and enforced. Donors providing genetic samples for consideration shall be compensated in some nominal manner outside of the demand matching of recipients.
Draft
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I disagree
So does the cumbox.
Something something broken arms.
Yadda Yadda coconut...