Internet forum reveals psychological scars of IVF children
January 27, 2011
Children born through in vitro fertilization and other advanced reproductive technologies often feel pain and resentment about their experiences, a new internet forum reveals.
Discussing their shared experiences, many children who were conceived using donated sperm or eggs show a keen interest in knowing the identity of the donors whose genes they carry. IVF practitioners do not provide that information, and have strongly resisted any move toward disclosure.
One woman participating in the forum expressed her frustrations in terms that vindicate the Vatican's warnings against artificial reproduction:
I am a human being, yet I was conceived with a technique that had its origins in animal husbandry. Worst of all, farmers kept better records of their cattle's genealogy than assisted reproductive clinics had kept for the donor conceived people of my era. It also made me feel strange to think that my genes were spliced together from two people who were never in love, never danced together, had never even met one another.
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Posted by: -
Jan. 28, 2011 2:07 PM ET USA
ColmCille, I don't think this is a single gender culpability issue. Women have donated eggs for money too. As for privacy, that's been the excuse for numerous abortion laws for decades.
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Posted by: ColmCille -
Jan. 27, 2011 10:09 PM ET USA
Of course the donors don't want to be found. They just wanted to make a few bucks by masturbating, and not have the responsibilities of fatherhood. It's a "privacy issue." Sorry, bucko. You spread your seed around and bring new life into the world, you ARE responsible, like it or no. Their children should be told who they are, and they should be ordered to pay a settlement for neglect of parental duties. Maybe then men would think twice about fornicating with a collection jar for cash.
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Posted by: TheJournalist64 -
Jan. 27, 2011 6:59 PM ET USA
Let us not forget that every action involved in IVF is gravely immoral, from the masturbation and egg harvesting to the destruction of perhaps dozens of conceived siblings of the one eventually born.
