Artificial Insemination - Who Is Responsible for This Mess?

Do babies born through artificial insemination have their rights to know who their donors are? Or should they have it in the first place? This modern technology, an artificial insemination, of inserting sperm directly into a woman’s body makes pregnancy possible for who suffer from certain kinds of infertility. Despite of this benefit of helping infertile couples, however, due to various factors such as ethics or religious beliefs, this artificial insemination is a controversial issue over the world. Furthermore, as the artificial insemination is pursued in some places including United States without solid future plans or even backup plans, the rights of these children who were born through this procedure and the donors of sperms are very serious point which definitely be considered before blindly praising the new science. The New York Times article, “A Father’s Day Plea to Sperm Donors”, is written by a man who was born via artificial insemination arguing that these children, including himself, who were born through the procedure should have the rights to know who their donors are.

Colton Wooten, who just graduated from high school, argues that “babies born of the procedure in the future should have the right to know who their donors are, and even have some contact with them.” (¶ 10) His mother, an unmarried woman who was at her 40s, wanted to have a baby and thought of the artificial insemination. She consulted with the University of North Carolina fertility clinic and picked a sperm from the sperm bank after examining the profiles and comparing the favorable traits and credentials. Though his mother reveals the story, he was too young to understand the process of artificial insemination and had only a vague concept of it. Until he was asked to make a family tree, he did not think much about it. However, as he tries to complete the family tree project and contact UNC fertility clinic, he started to question about the donor as well as himself. Despite his effort, he was disappointed to find that the files for anonymous donors are not saved. As he continues with his writing, he criticizes that there is “too little substantial debate” on the issue of whether these children born from artificial insemination have right to know their donors (¶ 8). He adds that while the benefits of artificial insemination are overlooked, the rights of these children are often ignored. Towards the end of his writing, he cries for the emotional deficit: “I am sometimes at such a petrifying loss for words or emotions that make sense that I can only feel astonished by the fact that he could be anyone.”

This article reminded me of my high school biology class in which students used to argue the ethical considerations related to the artificial insemination. As mentioned in the article, an artificial insemination can be perceived as a “triumph of female self-sufficiency” since it allows a woman to have a baby without a man (¶ 4). Is this ethical? Should it be accepted by the general public? Can this be an offensive action of reversing the nature to someone? One may argue that the artificial insemination should be pursued because it helps couples who suffer from infertility. These couples can be couples who have poor quality of egg/sperm but also they can be homosexuals. Of course, it will somewhat helpful to these couples. However, in order to go through the process, they would have to choose a sperm sample from the sperm banks. Like how it is written in the article, people “choose” their child. They examine the profile of sperm donors, and they compare the favorable traits. Since when did humans have these rights? If humans have rights to choose their own child, then who specifically has it? Is everyone allowed to choose their child? What is the favorable trait? Won’t this bring another discrimination factor? How about the children who were born through the procedure? Do they have the rights to know their donors? Should donors have their rights to make them anonymous? Aren’t they responsible for their children though it was born from their sperm? There are tons of questions and considerations which should be discussed and planned. Nevertheless, the artificial insemination continues to occur without solid future plans. Who is responsible for this mess?

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References

Wooton, Colton. "A Father's Day Plea to Sperm Donors." 18 June 2011 The New York Times. Web. 19 June 2011.