News Flash
I'm doing better, not great, but moving in the right direction, at least today. Spent most of yesterday shopping for new stuff for Hawaii. This was extremely conducive to a better mood, as was the Orange Julius I had at the mall.
There have been a couple of interesting news stories I heard this past week I thought I would pass on to you.
From BBC News: Sperm donors to lose anonymity
Men who father children through sperm donation are to lose their right to anonymity, the government has announced. The changes, which will also apply to egg and embryo donors, will come into force from April 2005, meaning the first time donor children will be able to find out their parent's identity will be in 2023. However, the changes will not be retrospective. Supporters say children conceived this way have a right to information about their genetic parents. But some fertility experts have warned many potential donors may be deterred if they could be identified. Read the rest of the story here.
From San Francisco Chronicle: Court grants equal rights to same-sex parents
The California Supreme Court broke new legal ground for same-sex parents Monday by ruling that lesbian and gay partners who plan a family and raise a child together should be considered legal parents after a breakup, with the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual parents.
Read the rest of the story here.
Not having any personal experience with either topic, my opinion hardly matters, but as to the first story, I'm inclined to agree that some donors may think twice if they know they might be identified later. The UK already has a shortage, particularly of sperm donors, and this may worsen the situation. The second story seems like a no-brainer to me, but then again, I'm a big fat liberal.
What do you think?
posted by Donna @ 11:29 AM
4 Comments:
What a strange thing to do. I agree that there may be fewer donors if they might later be id'd. Hmmm..
And yeah, no brainer. Gay parents, straight parents. PARENTS. All deserve the same rights.
I definitely think revealing the identity of donors is a step back. As someone who suffered infertility for years, I seriously considered donor egg ivf and the reason I knew I would have no problems with it was because as far as I was concerned, the donation of a tiny half cell was totally irrelevant to the whole process. Yes, someone, somewhere was parting with an egg, but as someone who would be responsible for nine months of pregnancy, labour, delivery, sleepless nights and years of rearing, I thought the donation of an egg did not warrant any rights as a parent, at all to the donor. Just my two cents worth but some legal entity somewhere obviously had a different point de vue.
I agree with you on both counts. The donor issue probably mean fewer men donate sperm. That's unfortunate.
As for the Gay rights thing, it's a shame that the US is dragging it's feet on granting rights to Gay citizens. Good for California!
Well, Elizabeth said the exact thing I was thinking. I would think there would a hell of a lot less people donating eggs/sperm if they felt that their generous donation might come back to cause them problems in the future.
And, yes, parents are parents no matter if they are gay, straight, bi, and should have equal rights.
Thankfully, Canada is starting to recognise this.
Donna, I'm so glad that you are feeling better today!
When do you leave for your trip?
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