My Daddy's Name is Donor: New Study on Children of 'Reproductive Technologies'

The desire for a child cannot justify the 'production' of offspring, just as the desire not to have a child cannot justify the abandonment or destruction of a child once he or she has been conceived. A new study by the Institute for American Values gives us the perspective of adults who were conceived through the use of artificial reproductive technologies, specifically egg and sperm donation. 

NASHVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - Modern secularist logic, infected by moral relativism, contends  that since science makes it possible, people should be allowed to manufacture other people through in vitro technology and artificial insemination. All because they desperately want a baby. To some, wanting to be a parent, wanting a baby, and being a good person all mean that people should have a child through any means necessary.

Oddly, it is automatically assumed that those with the desperate desire to be parents will be great ones. Further, that an intense desire for children will conquer and mitigate any adverse consequences that result from the methods used or the circumstances which may result.

Without recognizing that what are often called "reproductive" technologies create millions of people, not just embryos or babies, and that what they are born into - and therefore become - truly matters, this approach subjugates concerns for justice and ethics to a particular person or group of persons' will. They can also create a moral and human nightmare - as a new report so clearly illustrates and confirms.

My Daddy's Name is Donor

A new study by the Institute for American Values gives us, for the first time, the perspective of adults who were conceived through the use of artificial reproductive technologies, specifically egg and sperm donation, and shines a brutal spotlight on the outcome for the children conceived through these approaches. 

My Daddy's Name is Donor, co-authored by Elizabeth Marquardt, Norval D. Glenn and Karen Clark, is the first serious study to evaluate the implications of sperm donations on these children.  Its aim was "to launch a national and international debate on the ethics, meaning, and practice of donor conception," according to the summary, and indeed, it has.

It is estimated that between 30,000 and 60,000 children are born of sperm donation annually. These children grow up with unique and often painful questions regarding their origins and families, according to the recent report.

To study the identity, kinship, well-being, and social experiences of young adults who were conceived through sperm donation, the authors surveyed more than a million households. They compared representative samples of three groups: 485 adults between the ages of 18 and 45 who said their mother used a sperm donor were compared with a group of 562 adults who were adopted as infants, and 563 adults raised by their biological parents.

The first group, the offspring of sperm donors, was planned, wanted, and intended. The process of seeking and paying for a sperm or egg donor eliminates an "unwanted" pregnancy. The other two groups, those who were adopted and those raised by biological parents, included unwanted, unplanned and or unintended pregnancies, sometimes necessarily resulting in adoption. The results remained constant even when controlled for socio-economic status and other variables.

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"Because I Want To" is Simply Not Enough

The results showed that even though the donor group was most wanted, planned, and intended, those in it fared significantly worse. The donor offspring were twice as likely to struggle with substance abuse and delinquency as those raised by biological parents; those who were adopted fell generally in between. Donor offspring were 1.5 times more likely to have battled depression compared to those raised by biological parents, while those who were adopted were more likely than either.

On average, those conceived through sperm donation hurt more, were more confused, felt more isolated from their families, and wondered who their families really were. A huge majority, nearly two-thirds agreed, "My sperm donor is half of who I am," yet they are legally precluded from knowing who their "other half" is. Some felt like the freakish result of a lab experiment, while others struggled with identity issues.

Nearly half were disturbed that their sperm donor was involved in a commercial transaction without any thought of them personally. Others were bothered by being a product made and bought to satisfy a parent's wishes. Many expressed being troubled by the deliberate decision to deprive them of the other parent.

About half of the donor offspring confessed trust issues after being lied to about their origins. But approximately the same number seriously objected to donor conception itself, even in cases where parents tell their children the complete truth about the circumstances of their conceptions.

More than half said that they wonder if they are related to people who resemble them. Almost as many feared being attracted to or having sexual relations with someone to whom they were unknowingly related.

Enormous Implications

The study stated and showed that, aside from abortion, no other medical procedure has such enormous implications for ones who did not seek treatment, offspring. Some of these offspring have no voice at all, since unused fertilized eggs, who are embryonic human persons, are routinely disposed of. But the voices of living donor children were such that the researchers properly asked, "Does a good society intentionally create children in this way?"

In fact, after recognizing these implications, anonymous sperm donation has been banned in seven countries, the report noted. In the US and Canada the practice is unrestricted to the point that federal law currently protects sperm donors and fertility clinics.

Even more disturbing was that 36% of donor offspring were born into and raised by Catholic families (compared to 22% from adoptive families, and 28% by their biological parents). It is troubling because the Church clearly teaches that such practices of artificial insemination which substitute for the conjugal act are morally wrong. Marriage and family are the authentic context for the procreation and raising of children.  

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Because life is meant to be generated through an act expressing personal, reciprocal love between a man and a woman, it is unsubstitutable. Procreation is the fruit of conjugal love within marriage and cannot be reduced to mere manufacture in this kind of technologically produced reproduction.

Life is Precious

On the other hand, in order to come to the aid of infertile couples who want to have children, the Church permits, promotes, and advocates medical techniques that aid the conjugal act and fertility. The Church encourages research and investment in sterility prevention, and adoption, so that orphaned children receive homes that contribute to their integral human development.

While recognizing the legitimacy of the desire for a child and understanding the suffering of couples struggling with fertility problems, the Church maintains that their desire must not undermine the dignity of every human life: 

"The body of a human being, from the very first stages of its existence, can never be reduced merely to a group of cells. The embryonic human body develops progressively according to a well-defined program with its proper finality, as is apparent in the birth of every baby.

"The desire for a child cannot justify the 'production' of offspring, just as the desire not to have a child cannot justify the abandonment or destruction of a child once he or she has been conceived. The Magisterium of the Church has constantly proclaimed the sacred and inviolable character of every human life from its conception until its natural end" (Instruction on the Dignity of Persons on Certain Bioethical Questions, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith).

The Church is not somehow "intervening" in areas somehow "improper" to her, science and medicine, by expressing her moral judgment on medical research and developments concerning the beginnings of life. Rather, because the dignity of persons and the primacy of marriage - and the family founded upon it - is at the heart of Catholic Social Thought, she calls everyone to the truth. She encourages the formation of a social conscience and social responsibility which is consistent with the truth. This is her role as an "expert in humanity" and a mother and teacher.

What a Child is Born Into is Important

While My Daddy's Name is Donor does not claim that everyone raised by biological parents within a family is perfectly happy and healthy, its research supports preceding studies that prove that true marriage and the family founded upon it is comparatively the absolutely best place for children to be born and grow.

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It illustrates the inherent rightness and wisdom of the Church's teachings on life, marriage and family, contradicting those who mistakenly believe that desire or excellent parenting mitigates the inherent adverse consequences of alternative "family structures." Simply being wanted, contrary to today's conventional wisdom, is not enough. What the child is born into and whom the child is raised by is important.

And for those who simply do not or will not agree with the position of the Church, the study clearly indicates that there are important social reasons to end anonymous parenthood and support true marriage: "openness alone does not appear to resolve the potential losses, confusion and risks that can come with deliberately conceiving children so that they will be raised lacking at least one of their biological parents."

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Sonja Corbitt is a Catholic speaker, Scripture teacher and study author, and a contributing writer for Catholic Online. She is available to speak on the New Feminism, current events and your preferred theme. Visit her at www.pursuingthesummit.com for information and sample videos.

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