Anonymous Fathers

By drodriguez Aug 23, 2010

The issue of sperm banks and artificial insemination has come up recently probably because of new movies like "The Switch", starring Jennifer Aniston about a woman who decides to undergo this procedure and become a single mom, and "The Kids Are Alright" about a man who donates sperm and later meets the children he unknowingly fathered. The movies have caused some people to question whether it is a good idea for sperm banks to continue running the way they are currently operating allowing donors to remain anonymous and father large amounts of children.

A recent report from ABC News discusses the way the sperm banks operate with little regulations on who they accept donations from and how often they receive sperm from the same donor. The fact that some men donate on a weekly basis means they could literally be fathering hundreds of children.

When Chase Kimball, now a successful lawyer, was in college during the 1970’s and 80’s he believes he donated to his local sperm bank enough times to have fathered hundreds of children. At one point he was told by the sperm bank, “You’ve got too many kids locally and we can only use your sperm if someone orders it from out of state.”

Wendy Kramer, who conceived a son through artificial insemination and founded the Donor Sibling Registry, believes the way sperm banks are currently run is dangerous. Kramer says, “There are no rules or regulations about donor identification, testing donors, monitoring numbers of children, or medical records. They recruit young college kids with no education and no counseling for the donors. They are lied to and told there will never be any more than 10 kids out there. They don’t keep track.”

Many people who later in life come to find out their father was an anonymous sperm donor feel lost in knowing they will never know their genetic identity. Those who are getting ready to have kids of their own worry about genetic medical conditions that they are unaware of. Making the system more open and not allowing donors to remain anonymous would fix this.

What do you think of the way sperm banks are currently being run?

Do you think there should be more regulations placed on sperm banks?

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Comments

by MyEmptyCanvas | KOSCIUSKO, MS

Oct 06, 2010

The sperm banks should definitely be strict and only accept sperm from a donor so many times and use his sperm a set number of times too, especially in the same or surrounding areas.

by Aspiringauthor09 | LAKEVILLE, PA

Sep 14, 2010

you see, this is why I love this site! Without this information, people could get hurt. personally, I think that, if I were to adopt, i'd keep a small secret file in the back of my closet or spomething, that has a few pictures of my child's biological parents. just stuff like them at the movies, or them playing their favorite sport. that way my kid knows where it gets it's natural talents, quirks, and feautures from.

by darcypearl | sedona, AZ

Sep 10, 2010

Do i believe sperm banks are being ran right?-NO More regulations?-yes Ok so lets say that one man has 100 of childern right well lets just say their not in far enough places from each other, lets say some went to school with one another ....Lets just say at some point in time a cupple gets together and there you go- Incensed and never knew it, health problems for a helpless baby- My issue here is not about a woman not being able to care properly for a child because there are THOUSANDS of childern who grow up with out a fauther, its that Incensed could very well be escalating with out notice....That my friends is a serious issue! If there is no limet and harsher regulations for this issue we are going to be living in a skary world of not knowing who is who and who is potencially related to you!

by joy9281 | TOLEDO, OH

Aug 26, 2010

this thought i disturbing and somehow never crossed my mind before.

by konigin | atascadero, CA

Aug 25, 2010

I didn't know that! scary!

by blvd1601 | Fort Washington, PA

Aug 25, 2010

Use a different donor bank. Many have these restrictions in place already.

by wisegal | washington, IN

Aug 24, 2010

I think this is a bad thing because there is many kids out there by one father then that means there is alot of insest that could be going on with out knowledge and this could really cause a lot of problems.

by MadHatter | Whitestone , NY

Aug 24, 2010

It actually scares me to know that one person might not know that the other is their own half sibling and they meet one day and end up getting married or something. I am not saying that they should only use one sperm out of the batch and toss the rest, but they really need to cut back on how much they use at one designated location. Also, there should be a rule implemented where if the child finds out who thier real father is, they can't request for anything ex: part of an inheritance or such.