Incest fears among children of artificial insemination
September 07, 2011
The discovery that many US sperm donors have fathered 50 or more children has given rise to fears of incest--at once calling to mind Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and manifesting the wisdom of Catholic teaching against artificial insemination.
The New York Times reported that “half sisters and half brothers [conceived through artificial insemination] often live close to one another … Critics say that fertility clinics and sperm banks are earning huge profits by allowing too many children to be conceived with sperm from popular donors.” One California mother who made use of artificial insemination told the Times that her daughter has “been in school with numerous kids who were born through donors. She’s had crushes on boys who are donor children.”
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Further information:
- One Sperm Donor, 150 Offspring (New York Times)
- Sperm donor said to father 150 kids: Time to tighten regulation? (CBS)
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Dignitas Personae (2008)
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