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Study shows problems for adults conceived by sperm donation
CNA ^ | New York City, N.Y., Jun 12, 2010

Posted on 06/12/2010 6:56:37 AM PDT by GonzoII

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Study shows problems for adults conceived by sperm donation


Alana Sveta and Olivia Pratten.

.- A recent report by the Commission on Parenthood’s Future indicates that adult offspring of sperm donation struggle with questions of identity as a result of not knowing their biological father. Fr. Thomas Berg, who specializes in bioethics, told CNA that the practice of sperm donation has “grossly underestimated” the human need to connect with one's biological parents.

The report, “My Daddy’s Name is Donor: A New Study of Young Adults Conceived Through Sperm Donation,” was co-investigated by Commission members Elizabeth Marquardt, Norval D. Glenn and Karen Clark.

“Many people think that because these young people resulted from wanted pregnancies, how they were conceived doesn’t matter to them,” said Marquardt.

“But this study reveals that when they are adults, sperm donor offspring struggle with serious losses from being purposefully denied knowledge of, or a relationship with, their sperm donor biological fathers,” explained Clark.

The study is the first representative, comparative examination of the identity and well-being of the adult offspring of sperm donation.  It is estimated that 30,000-60,000 children are born every year through sperm donation in the U.S. alone.

The study found that young adults who were conceived through sperm donation exhibit higher rates of confusion, isolation, depression, delinquency and substance abuse than those who were raised by their biological parents.

Two-thirds of the donor-conceived adults agreed with the statement “My sperm donor is half of who I am.”  About half reported being disturbed that money was involved in their conception. 

More than half said that when they see someone who resembles them, they wonder if they are related, while nearly half said they have feared being attracted to or having sexual relations with someone to whom they are unknowingly related. 

In addition, two-thirds of the donor-conceived participants affirmed the right of donor children to know the truth about their origins, and about half have concerns about or serious objections to donor conception itself, even when the children are told the truth.

The report offered 19 recommendations to leaders in the areas of law and health; media and popular culture; parents and would-be parents; and civic, social, and religious leaders in the U.S. and around the world.  Raising questions of the ethics, meaning and practice of donor conception, the recommendations ask society to consider, “Does a good society intentionally create children in this way?”

Donor-conceived Alana Sveta tells her story on FamilyScholars.org.  She describes how she often tells people that her father is dead so she will not have to tell them the truth about being conceived by a sperm donor, a fact that she considers “creepy” and “disgusting.”

“It embarrasses me,” she said.

Sveta said that other donor children feel the same as she does, but have remained largely voiceless.  “It’s just that we, the children, haven’t been empowered to vocalize our issues yet. The needs and concerns of our mothers and their partners have trumped and stifled our own,” she said.

Olivia Pratten agreed.  “Unfortunately, many of the physicians who run the fertility clinics continue to ignore or dismiss what we say as being a 'bitter few,'” she said.  “As this study proves, we are not a few.”

Pratten, conceived via an anonymous sperm donor, explained on FamilyScholars.org that she has yearned to know more about her father since she was told of her conception at age 5.  “I never saw him as a sperm donor,” she said.  “To me – instinctively – he was my biological father.”

Speaking of the flaws inherent in the system itself, she said, “When the parents using the technologies are called the 'consumers,' that means the resulting children are the 'products.'”

In an interview with CNA, Fr. Thomas Berg, Director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, explained that he believes “this will be a very hard-hitting study.”

“It raises all kinds of issues,” he said. “I think this is one of those 800-pound gorillas that's been sitting in the room for a couple decades now.”

Fr. Berg said he was not surprised by the findings of the study.  “It makes a lot of sense to me,” he said.  “The need for connection with the biological parents is a much more powerful kind of thing than many people realize.” 

He explained that the assisted fertility industry has “grossly underestimated the need that people have to make that connection” and the result is “a huge gaping hole” in the self-understanding of those children conceived without such a connection.

“Human beings need to be grounded,” said Fr. Berg. “We need a story that tells us who we are and where we came from.  The human person can't develop fully and normally lacking that narrative.”

For children whose history is tied to an anonymous sperm donor, “there is just necessarily a huge part of that foundation that's missing,” he said.  “Part of the 'Who am I?' question never gets answered.”

“I think there's something about self-identity which is just disturbingly left unsettled for children who come into the world through sperm donors.”

Responding to the study finding that about half of the individuals questioned were disturbed that money was involved in their conception, Fr. Berg said society is reaping the fruits of the way “we have commodified life.”

“That just speaks volumes,” he told CNA. “These poor children have come to the realization that they themselves, from the very beginning, were treated as objects, about which there was monetary consideration.”

To prevent causing further harm, we must eliminate the possibility of people coming into the world through sperm and egg donations, said Fr. Berg.  This will require an entire change of mindset, as society must “rediscover the genuine God-given meaning of sexuality, marriage and family.” 

Renewing our understanding of this three-fold relationship is essential, he explained.  “The whole meaning, richness and importance of that for culture has been utterly disregarded.”



TOPICS: Moral Issues; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: bioethics; family; genetics; ivf; medical; moralabsolutes; parenting; research; spermbank
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To: Born to Conserve

California Cryobank (Reproductive Tissue Services)

http://www.cryobank.com/

I have a neighbor who conceived her first child through an affair with a married man (used him). To add a sibling, she went through the above. She stated she “finally found the right way to do this”. She is a professor at a college, a Catholic college at that. Sad and revolting.


21 posted on 06/12/2010 8:38:09 AM PDT by Bluebird Singing
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To: GonzoII; netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; markomalley; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; ...
Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


22 posted on 06/12/2010 9:25:10 AM PDT by NYer ("God dwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar." St. Maximilian Kolbe)
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To: Ditter

My adopted relatives know who their parents are. They were raised by their parents. Birth parents...that’s another matter.

God bless you and yours. Yours.


23 posted on 06/12/2010 9:29:45 AM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: GonzoII

“It’s just that we, the children, haven’t been empowered to vocalize our issues yet. The needs and concerns of our mothers and their partners have trumped and stifled our own,” she said.

When I read a phrase such as, “...been empowered to vocalize...” I get deeply suspicious of the true authorship of what I am reading.

Too often these young people have others who give them the diologue to recite or the writer of the piece wants to take over and rewrite as he types.


24 posted on 06/12/2010 9:31:45 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, then writes again.)
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To: Travis McGee

When are you going to tell us all about that boat (ship?) you built?


25 posted on 06/12/2010 9:33:12 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, then writes again.)
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To: Old Professer

Mostly on the Abbey The Missing Teen Sailor threads!


26 posted on 06/12/2010 9:36:07 AM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: GonzoII

I feel bad for them but OTOH how many men would donate if they knew in 18 years someone migth show up on their doorstep?


27 posted on 06/12/2010 9:46:26 AM PDT by chris_bdba
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To: Ditter; GonzoII; Travis McGee; reg45
This is different from adoptions in what way?

As an adoptee and adoptive parent, I feel qualified to answer your question. We both know the names of our biological fathers. When I adopted my daughter, I asked questions of her birth mother regarding know health issues of both parents. Just knowing a father's name already brings some form of identity. My german background comes from my birth father, whereas my daughter's biological father was 100% Italian and contributed to her saucy personality ;-)

A few years ago, GMA arranged for a young girl to meet her sperm donor father. The girl was about 16 and she was so excited to FINALLY know her "dad". The meeting took place via a large studio monitor. "Dad" was there with his wife and two little boys. The girl blushed when his face came on the screen and after a series of questions, commented: "Oh, that's where I get my big feet from"! But then the segment took a turn when the moderator asked the man if he had any other children from his 'donations'. "Yes", he responded, "I understand there are more than 100 and I hope they don't all come looking for me", he laughed. The young girl's face became crestfallen. Her joyful blush was replaced with a grimace.

Every one of us has a God-given right to be loved and appreciated.

Donum Vitae - INSTRUCTION ON RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE IN ITS ORIGIN AND ON THE DIGNITY OF PROCREATION

28 posted on 06/12/2010 10:05:40 AM PDT by NYer ("God dwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar." St. Maximilian Kolbe)
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To: NYer

Wow. How sad.


29 posted on 06/12/2010 10:26:43 AM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: GonzoII
What would you do if you wanted a baby of your own, had a good egg and a rooster that couldn't crow?

I don't know what I'd do.

30 posted on 06/12/2010 10:36:06 AM PDT by lonestar (Better Obama picks his nose than our pockets!)
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To: GonzoII; 185JHP; 230FMJ; AFA-Michigan; Abathar; Agitate; Albion Wilde; Aleighanne; ...
Homosexual Agenda and Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the homosexual agenda or moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic homosexual agenda keyword search
[ Add keyword homosexual agenda to flag FR articles to this ping list ]

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Both lists, since homosexuals often use unnatural methods to "have" children, other than adoption, or from previous relationships. I thought the article would be about physical or health problems, of which I have also read in connection with IVF. But this is a different issue. This is not knowing your father at all other than an anonymous masturbator, who often did the job for money.

Nature knows best, and that means children should be born the normal, natural way. God has designed how children are conceived and born, and this issue is another example of how peoples' intellects can create things that are dangerous and wrong. Science if not guided by natural moral law can and does create evil.

It is often said that "well, this woman wants a baby and has no husband" or "this woman wants a baby and her husband has a low sperm count".

My reply is - this world is not designed or created so that every single want, whim and desire a person has MUST be satisfied. That is a self-centered, infantile and dangerous mentality. If a husband and wife want children and cannot produce any themselves, there are children to adopt; and there would be more, if they were not aborted.

One demoniac act generates many more. Kill the babies, then there are none to adopt, so people who cannot for some reason produce ones of their own will go to unnatural and dangerous lengths to have them. All wrong.

31 posted on 06/12/2010 11:17:43 AM PDT by little jeremiah
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To: Travis McGee; GonzoII

Just one of the reasons the Catholic Church opposes in-vitro fertilization. The egg is fertilized outside the womb and then the fertilized egg is implanted into the womb.

Expensive procedure.


32 posted on 06/12/2010 11:23:07 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: NYer

Great resource.....thanks!


33 posted on 06/12/2010 11:25:15 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: All
Some thoughts from the Cathecism of the Catholic Church:

1711 Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in "seeking and loving what is true and good" (GS 15 § 2).
 
 

2273 The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."

"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights."

 

2289 If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for it's sake, to idolize physical perfection and success at sports. By its selective preference of the strong over the weak, such a conception can lead to the perversion of human relationships.

 
2378 A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The "supreme gift of marriage" is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged "right to a child" would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right "to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents," and "the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception."
 
2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.

God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.

 


34 posted on 06/12/2010 11:40:18 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: little jeremiah
Excellent and wise comment lj! Too bad it will only fall on def degenerate ears. I truly believe its a futile effort to get most people to see the truth. Its like living in a bad sick twisted episode of the twilight zone...
35 posted on 06/12/2010 11:45:17 AM PDT by DirtyHarryY2K (The Tree of Liberty is long overdue for its natural manure)
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To: reg45

Because it was deliberaely planned as a form of conception from an unknown stranger — a quick hoookup might not result in a pregnancy.


36 posted on 06/12/2010 12:02:22 PM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: reg45
So! How is this any different from a quick hookup with a person you have never met before and may never see again?

Not much; and that is deeply embarrassing for the unfortunate offspring, too.

37 posted on 06/12/2010 12:02:47 PM PDT by Albion Wilde ( Racism is the first refuge of liberals. --J.T. Young)
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To: Travis McGee

And their grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins.


38 posted on 06/12/2010 12:03:07 PM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: Ditter

with adoption the adopted baby is already there. This is creating a child witht he deliberate purpose of denying it a father.


39 posted on 06/12/2010 12:04:37 PM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: DirtyHarryY2K

I write because it is my duty to God.

If anyone listens, it’s their duty to God.

Good to see you, friend!!!

Hope you and yours are all well.


40 posted on 06/12/2010 12:05:42 PM PDT by little jeremiah
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