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First, the article:
+ Show Spoiler +http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/05/sperm-donation-ruling-should-the-identity-of-sperm-donors-be-protected.html
The B.C. Supreme Court has struck down provincial legislation that protected the identity of sperm donors. The court also prohibited the future destruction of any records and ordered the province to draw up new legislation in line with the Charter of Rights.
Lawyers for Olivia Pratten had argued that the existing rules discriminated against the children of sperm donors, and the court ruled in Olivia Pratten's favour on Thursday by striking down a section of the B.C. Adoption Act.
In the decision, Justice Elaine Adair wrote that the rights of the child must be protected in sperm donation, much like they are protected in cases of adoption in B.C.
The ruling gives the province 15 months to enact conforming changes to the B.C. Adoption Act that are in line with the Charter of Rights.
Adair found the Act was unconstitutional because it treats adopted children differently from children of sperm donors. Adopted children are provided information about their biological parents, whereas the children of donors are not.
TLDR: A Canadian apellate court has ruled that sperm donors have no right to anonymity, since that violated the rights of the children of sperm donors.
Most Canadian provinces have opened their adoption records out of concern for the rights of adopted children to know who their parents were (some however, like Ontario's, are opt-in -- meaning both the child and the parent must agree to identify themselves). This is the obvious next step, of course, since if adopted kids have the right to know why don't kids of donors?
Personally I'm torn, as I consider sperm donation more of an economic transaction than adoption. Jizz into the cup, get the money. Whether the jizz actual ever gets used by somebody is up to the company that has it, as well as the preferences of its customers.
But even though it is an economic transaction, it's one that carries with it the implicit possibility that you are creating a child. It's not surrogacy, definitely, but there is at least one step in the baby-making process involved (which is why they pay for the jizz in the first place).
My dad found out his heritage after Ontario's adoption records opened, and it brought him a lot of comfort. Is his situation substantially different than the child of jizz in a cup?
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I dont have hard stance on this
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I have always wanted to donate, but never took the effort to find a bank.
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On May 21 2011 03:05 Jakalo wrote:
I dont have hard stance on this
i think that's the womans partners problem
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What I've never understood is why people seem to care who their biological parents are?
If I found out my father wasn't my real father, I'd say "No, he's my real father, because he raised me and took care of me and still cares for me to this day." Who the hell cares where the sperm came from. There's a difference between a sperm donor and a DAD.
I guess maybe I'd have to be put in that position to understand, but honestly, I don't think I'd give two shits if I didn't know my 'biological' father, if he was just a random sperm donor.
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On May 21 2011 03:08 Mikilatov wrote:
What I've never understood is why people seem to care who their biological parents are?
If I found out my father wasn't my real father, I'd say "No, he's my real father, because he raised me and took care of me and still cares for me to this day." Who the hell cares where the sperm came from. There's a difference between a sperm donor and a DAD.
I guess maybe I'd have to be put in that position to understand, but honestly, I don't think I'd give two shits if I didn't know my 'biological' father, if he was just a random sperm donor.
i can agree with this, but if it were me, i would want to find my biological father, entirely out of curiosity
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On May 21 2011 03:06 turdburgler wrote:i think that's the womans partners problem
I find that this thread does not arouse my curiousity.
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On May 21 2011 03:08 Mikilatov wrote:
What I've never understood is why people seem to care who their biological parents are?
If I found out my father wasn't my real father, I'd say "No, he's my real father, because he raised me and took care of me and still cares for me to this day." Who the hell cares where the sperm came from. There's a difference between a sperm donor and a DAD.
I guess maybe I'd have to be put in that position to understand, but honestly, I don't think I'd give two shits if I didn't know my 'biological' father, if he was just a random sperm donor.
I agree, except this is more about the woman making sure that there's less chance of hereditary problems (im guessing....)
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On May 21 2011 03:08 Mikilatov wrote:
What I've never understood is why people seem to care who their biological parents are?
If I found out my father wasn't my real father, I'd say "No, he's my real father, because he raised me and took care of me and still cares for me to this day." Who the hell cares where the sperm came from. There's a difference between a sperm donor and a DAD.
I guess maybe I'd have to be put in that position to understand, but honestly, I don't think I'd give two shits if I didn't know my 'biological' father, if he was just a random sperm donor.
What if your adoptive dad was a jerk or you had no dad at all? Perhaps they also have to live with a burden that they were at one point "unwanted" by their real parents and maybe want closure. I would imagine the people with great adoptive parents are just curious though.
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On May 21 2011 03:08 Mikilatov wrote:
What I've never understood is why people seem to care who their biological parents are?
If I found out my father wasn't my real father, I'd say "No, he's my real father, because he raised me and took care of me and still cares for me to this day." Who the hell cares where the sperm came from. There's a difference between a sperm donor and a DAD.
I guess maybe I'd have to be put in that position to understand, but honestly, I don't think I'd give two shits if I didn't know my 'biological' father, if he was just a random sperm donor.
I agree. I don't really care for blood relations, despite being Asian (blood relations are pretty important in Chinese culture). Family is created through spending time with each other, caring, loving, living with each other, not by blood.
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I'm excited to see where this thread goes.
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Speaking as an individual who was brought into the world this way (In-vitro Fertilization), I'd love to know who my biological father is, but unfortunately, this is going back over 26 years, long before the donor identities were able to be released.
I may never know. but I try not to let it bug me.
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On May 21 2011 03:08 Mikilatov wrote:
What I've never understood is why people seem to care who their biological parents are?
If I found out my father wasn't my real father, I'd say "No, he's my real father, because he raised me and took care of me and still cares for me to this day." Who the hell cares where the sperm came from. There's a difference between a sperm donor and a DAD.
I guess maybe I'd have to be put in that position to understand, but honestly, I don't think I'd give two shits if I didn't know my 'biological' father, if he was just a random sperm donor.
Dad's adoptive mom was a bitch, that's the primary factor in his case.
But he found out that the alternative was a 17-year-old aboriginal girl who beat him for the first three months of his life, so "bitch" is relative.
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On May 21 2011 03:15 Anachromy wrote:
Speaking as an individual who was brought into the world this way (In-vitro Fertilization), I'd love to know who my biological father is, but unfortunately, this is going back over 26 years, long before the donor identities were able to be released.
I may never know. but I try not to let it bug me.
That's pretty fascinating. I wish you would expand your thoughts on this.
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On May 21 2011 03:13 ZaplinG wrote:
I'm excited to see where this thread goes.
Might be a long and hard discussion we have ahead of us.
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Tough. The child does have a right to know but you're right when you say sperm donation is more of a financial transaction then anything else
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On May 21 2011 03:13 BlackJack wrote:Show nested quote +On May 21 2011 03:08 Mikilatov wrote:
What I've never understood is why people seem to care who their biological parents are?
If I found out my father wasn't my real father, I'd say "No, he's my real father, because he raised me and took care of me and still cares for me to this day." Who the hell cares where the sperm came from. There's a difference between a sperm donor and a DAD.
I guess maybe I'd have to be put in that position to understand, but honestly, I don't think I'd give two shits if I didn't know my 'biological' father, if he was just a random sperm donor. What if your adoptive dad was a jerk or you had no dad at all? Perhaps they also have to live with a burden that they were at one point "unwanted" by their real parents and maybe want closure. I would imagine the people with great adoptive parents are just curious though.
That's a good point, but I still don't think I'd personally be interested to know. And generally when I hear about people wanting to seek their real fathers out, they get really bent out of shape about it.
A cousin of mine recently (at age ~20) found out her dad isn't her real dad, and she prettymuch spiraled into drug use and a bunch of other negative stuff. Doesn't really make sense to me, as she's close to her 'father' and he raised her forever. The way I see it is he is her real dad, who cares what biology says.
I suppose I just don't personally quite get what the big deal is, but different strokes for different folks, I guess.
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I feel that taking away anonymity is for the most part just going to result in significantly less donors. I admit this post is just speculation on my part, but I imagine that if the donors wanted to be a 'dad' they'd start their own family instead of anonymously donating. It's not to say I think the decision is wrong (so long as it only applies to future donors), but I do think they're damaging the service as opposed to seriously helping anyone.
I'm also not sure, beyond just meaningless curiousity, what the child would expect to gain from knowing who their biological father was that they should also be entitled to reasonably expect.
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My concern about this is that you can jizz into a cup and then a decade later find yourself paying dearly for it if a child you never knew you had -- a child conceived without intercourse -- suddenly starts making demands. I understand that many children born this way might want to know just for the sake of knowing, as some form of closure or something, but this is potentially dangerous for the unknowing father.
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EPT
