Ethical Issues Surrounding for Sperm Bank - Research Paper Example

? Ethical issues surrounding single women using sperm banks to become pregnant Ethical issues surrounding single women usingsperm banks to become pregnant Sperm bank is a facility available to women to help them attain pregnancy with the involvement of either the woman’s husband or third party by the process of artificial insemination. This process is being used in the United States since 1940s. Infertility has turned out to be more common and many women choose to become single mothers. Also the recipient’s partner may have undergone a vasectomy or may produce poor quality sperms. It also allows lesbian couples to have a baby. Approximately around eighty thousand such procedures are carried out annually and result in the birth of nearly thirty thousand babies. Moreover, by the 1990s, artificial insemination grew to become a $164 million industry and constituted 11,000 private physicians, 400 sperm banks and about 250 fertility centers (Gaines 1990). Sperm bank collects and stores up sperms from the sperm donors. Sperm donors are first examined for their medical health and then they can donate by way of masturbation. Sperms are then injected into the women’s uterus under the supervision of a qualified doctor or are used to produce an embryo using IVF or other reproductive techniques. (Balen, 2002) Many laws say that if the child is born using the sperms of the woman’s husband then he/she is the legal child of the husband. But laws regarding the child born through the sperms from a third party donor are not clear. Some believe that the child is supposed to be a lawful child of the mother and her husband but few also presume the child to be illegitimate. Ethical issues associated with this process are looked upon and highlighted by many medical institutions and also nongovernmental organizations and lawmaking departments. This process raises many legal, medical and social concerns. However there are many positive features associated to using this technique as well. Both sides of the situation should be addressed in order to understand the concept better. Artificial insemination is wrongly assumed to be just targeted for infertile pairs. Whereas, it also serves as a platform for individual women who wish to enjoy the blessings of being a parent. This means that this procedure has become relatively popular among lesbian couples who wish to start a family for themselves. However they haven’t gathered support by diverse ethnicities and this further improvisation in their relationships tends to raise a new question and obstacle in their lives which in turn points many fingers on single parenthood.  The women interested in becoming a single parent see bright new horizons as the success rate of conceiving artificially is relatively higher than the failure rates. There are two types of artificial insemination, which includes intra-cervical insemination and intra-uterine insemination. These methods are ought to be less incursive as compared to other procedures on artificial fertilization. But since these methods of artificial insemination are largely unstructured or less regulated, they raise a significant amount of health and moral issues. (Araoye, 2003) This process raises moral issues related to the rights of individuals regarding the conditions of their birth. The identity of the donors and recipients are kept confidential. Parents also tend to hide from children about their identity. People who accidently get to know that they were conceived through artificial insemination often undergo agony and distress. That is way it is immoral to hide a person’s birthright from him. Many doctors even do not keep records of the donors’ identity and their medical history because of which they are unable to trace information. Severe health issues also revolve around this artificial method of conception. Diseases such as AIDS, Hepatitis risk the lives of the women and also the child that is supposes to be born with this method. Although it is important to have a complete medical checkup of the donor but studies and surveys have exposed that not all the donors are investigated about their sex life history, their health etc. This non serious attitude towards the examination of donors causes serious illnesses to recipients. (Araoye, 2003) However, this process is much more affordable as compared to the other fertility procedures. It is very much cost effective and the price differences can reach up to thousands of dollars. Processes like IVF are very much expensive. (Balen, 2002) Moreover these sperm banks provide sperms to women who want that the donor should be anonymous and has no interest in the life of the child that will be born through this process. The donor signs away the parental rights at the time of donating the sperms. The women however are told about the physical characteristics such as eye color, height, and hair type of the donor and also the social characteristics like his attitude, temperament, religion etc. if the woman agrees the process is taken further. But many women do not want sperms from anonymous donors; instead they might want it from a friend or relative. In this way maybe they might not have to pay for the sperms but only for the process of insemination. Also they can meet the donor and talk to them in detail about any issue that the woman may have and can get to know not only about the person’s health details or association with alcohol or other drugs, but also his family history regarding any heredity disorder, disease, etc (Shanley et al 2003). Advancements in medical technologies allow the people to select the sex of their child. This idea has received opposition from some sides as few religions do not allow this and term it as unethical. Moreover creation of a lot of off springs from a single donor is also regarded as immoral by few factions. Also, if the mother is very open to her child about the nature of his/her birth it may create perplexity for the child. Mainly in the case where a close relative or friend is the sperm donor and the child may get to know this his/her uncle is the actual father. A major concern is that although many men sign that they end their right to the child that would be born using their sperm, but as he is the biological father, at any point of time he can change his mindset and would want to have the custody of his child (Shanley et al 2003). Conclusively, it is evident that the advantages for single women using sperm banks to become pregnant outweigh its counterparts. It is easy to determine that artificial insemination is more of a blessing in disguise, than a problematic feature. It can be utilized by individuals who face problems linked to conceiving, and since artificial insemination is most similar to natural reproduction, it should be observed as the best method for women who lack fertility or want to raise a family without being dependant on men. People have the freedom of choice and right to choose whatever they want in the best of their interests as far as they are not harming others around them. It is their free will to opt for decisions of turning to artificial ways of pregnancy. Ethics and religion have been the opposition forces in our society regarding social issues like artificial insemination, but what people should bear in mind that there is no harm being done to the society as a whole by this process. Being a low cost procedure it proves to be a cost effective method of getting pregnant which furthermore discourages genetic malfunctioning. Since the success rate of this process is relatively higher than that of other procedures of conceiving, it proves to be a binding fact that this method of pregnancy should be accepted by the masses. References: Inhorn, M. C., & Balen, F. . (2002). Infertility around the globe: New thinking on childlessness, gender, and reproductive technologies. Berkeley: University of California Press Margaret O Araoye; Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. (2004). Epidemiology of infertility: social problems of the infertile couples. (West African Journal of Medicine; Vol 22, No 2 (2003); 190-196.) West African Journal of Medicine. Shanley, M. L., Inhorn, M. C., & van, B. F. (November 01, 2003). Review of Infertility around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and Reproductive Technologies. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 65,4, 1088-1089. A Scandal Of Artificial Insemination. Judith Gaines 1990. Health NY TIMES Read More