Several years ago laws were introduced that required sperm donors to supply their identification along with their genetic material, making it easier for their kids to contact them in later life. Not surprisingly, the number of men willing to donate plummeted. So IVF clinics have been getting much of their supply from overseas. In Perth, they're trying to get some local blokes to make up the shortfall, without much luck.
Gawd, but it's a loathsome little industry isn't it? The men most likely to donate sperm are the ones who want to have least to do with their offspring. Imagine being one of the kids whose life resulted from this process. How would that make you feel, eh?
Of course, creepy social engineers say that there's no harm done to the child if he or she has loving parents. But love can only go so far in assuaging the angst resulting from such a deep, existential issue. The fact that half of your DNA came from someone who didn't want to have anything to do with you is going to have a big impact on your psyche no matter what. It would surely be like a hole in your heart that you would want to at least attempt to fill at some stage by finding out who your dad is, and what he's like as a person. (Actually, as far as I'm aware the fact that so many children of sperm donors wanted to do this was one of the main reasons the law was changed back in 2004.)
One of the Perth IVF doctors whose company is suffering from this sperm shortage describes how they're trying to recruit more donors: "We are focusing our advertising on the message that it is a wonderful gift that you're giving to a couple or person that's been unable to have a child, and it's really a good thing to do for society."
No mention of the rights of the child of course. That would be bad for business.
Showing posts with label fatherhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fatherhood. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Wong and Allouache have a daughter, but where is the father?
Penny Wong and her significant other Sophie Allouache are now the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl. I use the term "parents" flexibly, of course, because only one of the pair truly is a parent -- that's Sophie Allouache, who bore the child. The other dinkum parent is nowhere to be seen.
He's obviously agreed to take a low profile. Pretty much invisible, actually.
The father of Alexandra is a man known to the couple.
Well, at least they've met the guy. So they didn't choose him solely for the quality of his DNA, as described on some creepy sperm bank database.
His identity is to be kept secret.
Obviously that means that the meeja probably won't be allowed to print his name, even though it's a lay down misere that every hack in Canberra already knows it. (You never know, he might even be one. Most of the press gallery would give blood for the "progressive" cause. So why not sperm as well? Hell, it'd probably be a nice little earner, too.)
This report says that he will be known to the baby. Well, that's good of them.
Still, the poor tot will be left wondering why he, her dad, is taking such a minor role in her life. As she grows up she will almost certainly end up feeling that he fathered her not out of love for her mother but merely for ideological (or perhaps financial) reasons. So what does he truly feel about her? That's a doubly whammy to the heart right there.
Penny Wong and Sophie Allouache may think they've got the situation all nicely, neatly sorted. But it could get very messy indeed. Just as so many children of the IVF process -- deeply hurt by their fathers' absence from their lives -- often seek them out in adulthood, the fathers themselves frequently become much more emotionally involved than they planned to be and and demand more contact. Poisonous enmity often results and the only people to benefit are lawyers.
Really, the idea that bringing children into the world in such a cynical way constitutes social "progress" is just too revolting for words. It's also deeply ironic considering how often the gay marriage lobby cite "love" as their primary motivation.
He's obviously agreed to take a low profile. Pretty much invisible, actually.
The father of Alexandra is a man known to the couple.
Well, at least they've met the guy. So they didn't choose him solely for the quality of his DNA, as described on some creepy sperm bank database.
His identity is to be kept secret.
Obviously that means that the meeja probably won't be allowed to print his name, even though it's a lay down misere that every hack in Canberra already knows it. (You never know, he might even be one. Most of the press gallery would give blood for the "progressive" cause. So why not sperm as well? Hell, it'd probably be a nice little earner, too.)
This report says that he will be known to the baby. Well, that's good of them.
Still, the poor tot will be left wondering why he, her dad, is taking such a minor role in her life. As she grows up she will almost certainly end up feeling that he fathered her not out of love for her mother but merely for ideological (or perhaps financial) reasons. So what does he truly feel about her? That's a doubly whammy to the heart right there.
Penny Wong and Sophie Allouache may think they've got the situation all nicely, neatly sorted. But it could get very messy indeed. Just as so many children of the IVF process -- deeply hurt by their fathers' absence from their lives -- often seek them out in adulthood, the fathers themselves frequently become much more emotionally involved than they planned to be and and demand more contact. Poisonous enmity often results and the only people to benefit are lawyers.
Really, the idea that bringing children into the world in such a cynical way constitutes social "progress" is just too revolting for words. It's also deeply ironic considering how often the gay marriage lobby cite "love" as their primary motivation.
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