preview

Sperm Banks

Good Essays

Sperm Banks Approximately five thousand births a year are the product of donor children in the United States. There are fifteen sperm banks in the United States and close to fifteen hundred donors. Sperm banks allow millions of couples to start a family, but should not be allowed due to the number of problems they can cause. Genetic defects, unknown relative production, lack of diversity in the breeding pool, psychological issues within the family, and cost are some of the main problems that arise. Genetic defects are the biggest problem when it comes to sperm banks. The screening process that a donor must go through is intentionally designed to be rigorous and exclude any donor that does not meet the high standards. Surprisingly, only …show more content…

The process of sperm donation is very emotional for the family as well. Infants can be sweet and cute, but how will the parents react if there is unforeseen behavior or medical problems? There is always an underlying concern that those problems can arise. A sperm donor could come across issues within his own family if he were to have kids, especially if the donor child was to find out. It would make the donor child feel unwanted and would definitely have a psychological impact on him/her. Overall, the sperm bank process can be very time consuming and costly. Some women may not take the first sample the first time, so they must have a few more samples before getting pregnant. If it takes years to get pregnant, a woman may just give up. The average cost of going through this process is close to ten thousand dollars. Not only is there a set fee, but if a woman wants certain traits or has to get more samples the bill is just getting much bigger. A family must be prepared for the cost and the waiting process of using a sperm bank. Ultimately, there are several things that can go wrong physically, mentally, and socially; however, there is one story about a Louisiana man being taken to court due to a sperm bank’s mistake. An ex-girlfriend intentionally tricked the sperm bank into giving her the man’s sperm sample, and then took him to court to receive child support on the child. Who’s to say that the sperm bank has not done this

Get Access