# Britain Needs Sperm!

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-needs-sperm/404481
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 17, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-needs-sperm/404481 "2007-05-17T17:44:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 2

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### Author: ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-needs-sperm/404481/21 "2007-05-18T13:50:47Z")

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Thanks **pretend my name is witty** and **si\_blakely** for the back ground information.

[QUOTE=si\_blakely]

_Father: Altruistic Tosser_😉  
[/QUOTE]

That’s my father! - - Minus the “Altruistic” part. 😛

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### Author: ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britain-needs-sperm/404481/22 "2007-05-18T13:57:23Z")

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[QUOTE=si\_blakely]  
It has been a gradual process, that started with adoption rights. If a child who was adopted has a right to discover their birth parents and siblings, then, by extension, so does a child born via sperm donation.  
[/quote]

That’s an awfully wide gorge to jump. Adopted children were born of different parents. They have absolutely no blood relation whatsoever to their adoptive parents – but they do to those that gave them up for adoption. Children born from sperm do have a blood relation – to the mother. That they share about half of their genetic material with some complete stranger who wanked into a cup some time ago doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of relevance by comparison.

> [@](#):
>
> There are a few genetic issues that do crop up as well - if the donor developed (in later life) a genetic disease that could be treated early in their offspring, then the children probably have a right to know about that.

Why? I mean, inform them of whatever the genetic defect is and that it’s treatable because it was caught early enough (if that is indeed the case), but why do they have to know that this information came courtesy of this utterly anonymous bloke’s spooge pudding? Why does the donor even have to enter into the equation?

> [@](#):
>
> And I do think that within most people is a drive to know where they came from - and if you know that one of your parents wasn’t a biological parent (no matter the emotional situation) maybe that drive is so strong that you HAVE to know - I think for many adopted/donor children, that is the case.

But adoption is _very_ different. You were born of a whole other set of parents in that case. In sperm donation, your mother is your mother – your _real_ mother. Your father may not be your father genetically, but he is in every other way that matters, and your biological father – well, he was never part of your life for any longer than it took him to thumb through a few pages of Hustler and replace the lid. Barring any genetically passed physical or psychological issues that might make you want to understand the person you inherited them from, I can’t see any reason why his identity would matter in the slightest.

> [@](#):
>
> Of course, it could be solve by a simple entry on the Birth Certificate:
> 
> _Father: Altruistic Tosser_😉

Jeez, that could sensibly be put on _lots_ of birth certificates – sperm donor or not!

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