[arista]

Text from BBC:
[Sunday Mirror leads with the story of a sperm donor
who has won compensation from
an IVF clinic after couples mistakenly received
his samples against his will.
The paper says the man was
"stunned to discover" he had fathered
nine children to gay couples,
plus four to heterosexual couples.
He settled on a five-figure sum, the paper says.]

[MB.]

Congrats Marsh

[thesheriff443]

What a wanker.

[Shaun]

Baffling. I suppose when people donate blood (well, straight people, since we're still not allowed) it is now possible to say "please don't give any of this to a hettie, thanks babe x"

[Kate!]

Ridiculous that he's been given this amount of money. Surely if the children are in a loving home that should be what matters tbh. How did he find out anyway? Thought it was always anonymous and private.

[Jake.]

I don’t get why he should have a say where/who the born children end up going to He’s literally knocked one out in a cup, it’s not like he’s involved in any way after that.

[Kate!]

Originally Posted by Jake.

I don’t get why he should have a say where/who the born children end up going to He’s literally knocked one out in a cup, it’s not like he’s involved in any way after that.

agreed

[Swan]

[Ammi]

...so he got compensation because the couples were homosexual parents and he didn’t want them to be homosexual parents ...he’d specifically said nooooo/I hadn’t realised that would be a possible choice ..?..Arista, it would have been helpful to post a bit more of the story, rather than just a few front page lines...anyways...those 9 children that he ‘fathered’...and thank you him because it’s meant that 9 couples could have their beautiful, hoped for child......those 9 beautiful children may all be LGBT children themselves...that’s not something that’s his choice../the sexuality of ‘his children’....wishing a great and loving family life to those 9 children and their parents .....

[Cherie]

I didn’t realise sperm donors could specify, I always thought it was anonymous

Seems a very strange box to tick at a clinic, but if they offered it as an option it was an easy win for him

The clinics need to review their policies because that is discriminatory

[arista]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...so he got compensation because the couples were homosexual parents and he didn’t want them to be homosexual parents ...he’d specifically said nooooo/I hadn’t realised that would be a possible choice ..?..Arista, it would have been helpful to post a bit more of the story, rather than just a few front page lines...anyways...those 9 children that he ‘fathered’...and thank you him because it’s meant that 9 couples could have their beautiful, hoped for child......those 9 beautiful children may all be LGBT children themselves...that’s not something that’s his choice../the sexuality of ‘his children’....wishing a great and loving family life to those 9 children and their parents .....

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...after-22748188

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by arista

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...after-22748188

It’s a more complex story than the headline suggests isn’t it, not just gays but single mothers as well, how ironic his partner needed so many rounds of IVF which is why he was donating in the first place to get the fees reduced

[Oliver_W]

Why would you need to specify the "man sperm donor", no-one else can produce sperm

[AnnieK]

When I was going through fertility treatment and looking at the options are various failed cycles one of the options was donor sperm. You are told as much as possible about the donor and can choose to accept or reject on a number of physical and social characteristics so I am guessing if you choose to donate you will be given the choice of which recipients you would like it to go to. However, that seems a massively outdated approach now (its over 10 years since I was going through it). This man should have appreciated the struggles people go through to conceive having lived that life and appreciate the need people have to have a child and recognise that as long as that child is loved and cared for everything else is irrelevant.

[bitontheslide]

well obviously it was individual women that gave birth to the babies, not gay couples, so he must have put stipulations on all future adoptive parents, which to me seems a step too far, but i don't know the details

[Zizu]

Shouldn’t be be done for being homophobic and / or sexist ??


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[Kizzy]

Wow. This guy is a piece of work!

Imagine his kids finding him and asking why he felt their family was in some way abnormal?

How ironic that his views have created a lone parent family

[LeatherTrumpet]

I am sure the payout was a load off

[Liam-]

Since when are anonymous donors allowed to dictate where their donation goes? That’s madness

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Liam-

Since when are anonymous donors allowed to dictate where their donation goes? That’s madness

I've just read up on it and they are not.....there was legislation passed in 2010 as part of the equality act to say that donors cannot specify recipients based on discriminatory reasonings. The clinic should have not accepted him as a donor at all

[Toy Soldier]

Daft. If you have strong views about these things... Don't donate sperm. In fact don't donate sperm if you care at all about what's happening with it I guess... Accept that once its in that cup, its not "yours" any more and forget about it .

[Ammi]

“It takes a man and a woman to create a child. You can’t argue with millions of years of biology.” said Mr Gaskell


...it doesn’t take a man and a woman to create a loving parent though and a safe home for a child to thrive into adulthood in...

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

I've just read up on it and they are not.....there was legislation passed in 2010 as part of the equality act to say that donors cannot specify recipients based on discriminatory reasonings. The clinic should have not accepted him as a donor at all

Hmmmm given that his sperm has been used in 13 successful IVF treatments (and so one might assume countless more unsuccessful ones) is it possible that he donated before 2010 and that's where the confusion/"mix up" has occurred? E.g. newer staff not realising that "older sperm" might have specifications on the contract because more recent donations don't have the option. You can apparently store for 10+ years.

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Ammi

“It takes a man and a woman to create a child. You can’t argue with millions of years of biology.” said Mr Gaskell


...it doesn’t take a man and a woman to create a loving parent though and a safe home for a child to thrive into adulthood in...

He had already argued with biology by having medical intervention for his own children too.

He donated the sperm to get cut price treatment from the clinic and then added his own stipulations

[Toy Soldier]

I actually do personally have some reservations about surrogacy to be fair - not in all circumstances, but most specifically paid surrogacy. I think in most cases, traditional adoption is the healthier route for all involved. That's a huge and separate debate, though.