When conceiving a child seems out of reach for hopeful parents, adoption, fertilization treatments or a trip to the sperm bank might be just the answer.
Over seven years ago Cynthia Daily and her partner contacted a sperm donor to conceive their son. Out of curiosity, Daily began searching online for other children fathered by the same donor, and her findings were beyond surprising.
Over the years the group of related children grew larger and larger, until the “family” peaked at 150 children — all from the same donor.
“It’s wild when we see them all together — they all look alike,” Daily said.
Daily, many parents resort to sperm donors when hoping to start a family. However, additional medical concerns exist regarding sperm donors and the spread of genes for rare diseases running rampant through the population.
“My daughter knows her donor’s number for this very reason,” said an anonymous source. ”She’s been in school with numerous kids who were born through donors.
Additional controversy surrounding sperm banks includes the lack of regulation and accountability regarding how many children may be conceived by a single donor.
According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, it is recommended (but not restricted to) that individual donors be limited to 25 births per population of 800,000.
The debate and controversy regarding the use and regulation of sperm banks prevails as a hot topic in the medical realm, and does not look like an issue to be settled soon.
Contains content from The New York Times.
