Who is My Daddy?

I love the idea that there are men and women willing to share their DNA to help make babies. While I know folks get paid for it, it's an incredibly generous thing to do. Obviously, the men have an easier time of it, and their paycheck is accordingly smaller. But there's something kinda neat about a woman who is ready to be a mom being able to immediately choose a sperm donor who is healthy, and shares the same ethnicity or other physical characteristics desires.

Depending on your state of residence, you may be allowed to do at-home insemination or you may be required to go to a health care provider's office. Other than waiting for a woman's cycle, the check has to clear and you're off to the races.

It's a very neat process. Except for whole donor anonymity thing. There is a growing movement in Europe and North America to force sperm banks to disclose identifying information about its donors. Lawsuits are popping up, organized groups are coming together in an increasingly loud unified voice – that people ought to know who their daddy is.

I'm trying to think of reasons why it's not a good idea, and I can't come up with much. I read my friend Tracy's blog (http://howtomakeafamily.typepad.com/) with great interest about her own family lineage struggle and am forced to agree. The only bad thing about banning unknown donors is that there will surely be far fewer sperm donors available. What was suddenly as easy as shopping in an LL Bean catalog may become infinitely more difficult. But maybe, that's a price we ought to pay.

Angie
MyFertilityPlan.com