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This chapter analyses the recruitment and marketing practices of the sperm banking industry in the United States. These practices raise ethical questions about the increasing commodification of sperm donors and the increasing stratification of sperm donors, whose value is determined not just by their health and vitality, but by the extent to which they mirror idealized traits of masculinity.

Much research on IVF, assisted reproduction and gamete donation has centred on their medical, legal and socio-cultural processes and meanings. Here, quite frequently, little attention is paid to the donors themselves other than in the context of their selection. However, donation is a corporeal process in which body parts are produced and given or sold. This chapter analyses the bioprecarities that derive from the process of sperm donation. It draws on empirical online and social media materials, as well as other texts, in which men who donate sperm for the purposes of assisted reproduction articulate their sense of the meaning of this process, and further, considers responses to the revelation of sperm donation from people both known and unknown to the donor. These responses show how sperm donation as a form of intimate labour in which a man also parts with somatic material produced by his body, and involving negotiated journeys, is managed and talked about. In the chapter I argue that responses to sperm donation indicate deeply gendered views of reproductive intimate labour in which a sense of bioprecarity masks strongly gendered views of sexuality, intimacy, and reproduction.

This chapter considers the paternity of the fertile man who donates sperm so that an unmarried woman can conceive his child. The donor may be someone whom the woman knows or someone who makes a contribution to a sperm bank. Under most state statutes, the sperm donor is never acknowledged as the legal father of the child. The statutes do not make a distinction between known and anonymous sperm donors. However, in some states, the sperm donor may agree to be a father to the child. Courts will usually recognize these agreements. A sperm donor may also be recognized as the legal father of the child if he does not comply with the state's artificial insemination statute. States without statutes tend to treat known sperm donors differently from anonymous sperm donors. While anonymous sperm donors are generally protected from parental obligations, at least one court has recognized a known sperm donor as the legal father of the children created using his genetic material.

This chapter considers the paternity of the fertile man who donates sperm so that an unmarried woman can conceive his child. The donor may be someone whom the woman knows or someone who makes a contribution to a sperm bank. Under most state statutes, the sperm donor is never acknowledged as the legal father of the child. The statutes do not make a distinction between known and anonymous sperm donors. However, in some states, the sperm donor may agree to be a father to the child. Courts will usually recognize these agreements. A sperm donor may also be recognized as the legal father of the child if he does not comply with the state's artificial insemination statute. States without statutes tend to treat known sperm donors differently from anonymous sperm donors. While anonymous sperm donors are generally protected from parental obligations, at least one court has recognized a known sperm donor as the legal father of the children created using his genetic material.

The idea that families can be created by women changed the worlds of the women interviewed, allowing them to imagine families crafted in new ways as both legitimate and valuable. Women act on motherhood for the first time by chancing pregnancy, finding a known donor, ordering donor profiles, or putting in the paperwork to begin an adoption. In the case of Lori-Ann Stuart, she chose a close friend, Bob, to donate sperm rather than a sperm bank. She made it sure that she would be the parent, and Bob would have no claim and responsibility for it. However, the coupling of genetic parenthood and social parenthood complicates the relationship between children and paternal kin. Lori-Ann is an interesting case. While pregnant, she restructured her life. Though still living by herself in a small apartment, she wanted her baby to be surrounded by loving people from the beginning.

This chapter provides an overview of the donor-gamete world, beginning with an introduction to the people who use donor eggs and sperm. It explores the many potential recipients of donor gametes, including heterosexual and same-sex couples, as well as single individuals, all of whom are looking for ways to complete their families. The second section discusses the fertility industry, the business that makes it possible for people who want to become parents to procure the gametes and the technology that will allow them to have babies. Although donor insemination (DI) is hundreds of years old, it is only over the past three decades that DI has become an industry, and only over the past two decades that egg donation has become a possibility. The final section turns to the donors themselves, exploring who they are and why they do what they do.

This chapter provides an overview of the donor-gamete world, beginning with an introduction to the people who use donor eggs and sperm. It explores the many potential recipients of donor gametes, including heterosexual and same-sex couples, as well as single individuals, all of whom are looking for ways to complete their families. The second section discusses the fertility industry, the business that makes it possible for people who want to become parents to procure the gametes and the technology that will allow them to have babies. Although donor insemination (DI) is hundreds of years old, it is only over the past three decades that DI has become an industry, and only over the past two decades that egg donation has become a possibility. The final section turns to the donors themselves, exploring who they are and why they do what they do.

This chapter profiles cases involving children of so-called planned lesbian and gay families. In particular, it explores the debate over the parental rights of lesbian mothers and known sperm donors. It also considers the extent to which cases involving LGBT parents have forced courts to grapple with the question of what makes a parent, the controversial question of what role biology should play in determining parenthood, and the law's willingness to recognize that the well-being of children is not necessarily dependent on their having a father. Finally, it examines whether it is sometimes in a child's best interests to have more than two parents.

This chapter profiles cases involving children of so-called planned lesbian and gay families. In particular, it explores the debate over the parental rights of lesbian mothers and known sperm donors. It also considers the extent to which cases involving LGBT parents have forced courts to grapple with the question of what makes a parent, the controversial question of what role biology should play in determining parenthood, and the law's willingness to recognize that the well-being of children is not necessarily dependent on their having a father. Finally, it examines whether it is sometimes in a child's best interests to have more than two parents.

This chapter deals with the controversial market of eggs and sperm. It examines how egg and sperm donors respond to variation in the organizational framing of paid donation—as either gift or job—and finds that it does have consequences for how individuals experience bodily commodification. Despite the fact that egg and sperm donors are alike in being motivated by the compensation, and they spend the money on similar things, they end up adopting gendered conceptualizations of what it is they are being paid to do. Women speak with pride about the huge gift they have given, while men consider donation to be a job, and some sperm donors even reference feelings of alienation and objectification.

This chapter discusses regulations in the donor world aimed at ensuring the health and safety of providers, recipients, and donor-conceived individuals. Fertility industry regulations exist that address gamete safety and consumer protection. These are important because patients need assurances that gametes have been tested for various diseases, and that fertility clinics are not engaging in false advertising. However, regulations that are primarily concerned with informing patients are limited in scope. They do not address any other aspect of the donor world, including record keeping or inadvertent consanguinity. The remainder of the chapter deals with standards for genetic tests performed on donors; counseling recipients and donors on genetic risks; tracking where gametes are sent; requiring updated health information from donors and disseminating that updated information; expanding access to assisted reproductive technologies; limits on the numbers of offspring produced by an individual donor; and justification for continuing the incest ban.

This chapter discusses regulations in the donor world aimed at ensuring the health and safety of providers, recipients, and donor-conceived individuals. Fertility industry regulations exist that address gamete safety and consumer protection. These are important because patients need assurances that gametes have been tested for various diseases, and that fertility clinics are not engaging in false advertising. However, regulations that are primarily concerned with informing patients are limited in scope. They do not address any other aspect of the donor world, including record keeping or inadvertent consanguinity. The remainder of the chapter deals with standards for genetic tests performed on donors; counseling recipients and donors on genetic risks; tracking where gametes are sent; requiring updated health information from donors and disseminating that updated information; expanding access to assisted reproductive technologies; limits on the numbers of offspring produced by an individual donor; and justification for continuing the incest ban.

This chapter examines various issues relating to egg/sperm donor versus intending parent(s), as well as the partnership rights that a couple may have against each other. In most states, laws provide that a sperm donor has no rights to any resulting child and treat the intending parents as the legal parents. However, very few states have comparable laws dealing with embryo or egg donation. Even the statutes that are in existence are often limited in scope, especially with regards to parenthood issues outside the marriage context. This chapter first considers the laws on families formed through sperm, egg, and embryo donation, and surrogacy, with particular emphasis on marital and nonmarital families, before discussing issues of parentage when same-sex couples form families through any of the reproductive technologies.

This chapter considers the issue of whether to disclose the identity of gamete providers by focusing on the relative interests and practical concerns of all the parties involved—providers (egg/sperm donors and industry), legal parents, and offspring. Gamete identity disclosure is often discussed around children's right to know versus their parents' and the donors' right not to disclose. However, the issue cannot be framed solely in terms of rights is wrong, since there is a tendency to overlook the interests of all involved and instead muddle the issues of confidentiality and privacy. This chapter examines arguments for and against identity disclosure, along with different strategies used by other countries and whether they can be adopted in the United States. It concludes by proposing “limited disclosure” and offering recommendations on how to implement it.

Chapter 1 describes how parents choose a sperm donor with which to conceive a child. It shows that all parents take into account a similar range of factors as they select from among the available donor profiles. Parents choose donors with traits they believe will secure advantage for their children; they also choose donors with traits they believe fit well with the families they are creating. They choose among the types of donors available, including known donors, anonymous donors, and identity-release donors. The choices made before conception enable intending parents to express their taste and values and through that expression to make the child their own. All of the parents interviewed disclosed donor conception to their children. Both the variety of types of donors and the variety of information about individual donors have increased over time in response to consumer preferences.

This chapter analyzes the case of Mr and Mrs F who have been married for ten years and have no children. They have ruled out the choice of adoption, and are considering resort to an artificial insemination donor. However, they worry about the right of the child to have a ‘natural’ father (that is, the wife's husband), or not to know its biological father. They ask Dr R for advice and possible assistance in arranging artificial insemination by donor. It discusses what Dr R should advise and assist, in light of relevant medical, ethical, legal, and human rights considerations.

This chapter describes how children begin to understand the meaning of donor conception to make sense of the hollow concept of a donor. It explores how children of different ages imagine the sperm donor. Sex education in schools and conversations with other children become factors in their understanding. As children invent the donor from the bits and pieces of information available, they also try to figure out which parts of themselves came from the donor; they thus invent the self. Siblings who live in the same home can help children figure out who the donor is and what he has contributed. During adolescence children use the donor to help in the processes of separation and self-assessment. The chapter considers the following questions: How do children go beyond a birth narrative to understand themselves? How do their parents help them understand that some aspects of the self might come from a stranger?

Since the development of in vitro fertilization (IVF), donor sperm has been employed successfully in conjunction with oocyte collection and embryo formation. Oocyte donation and embryo donation have followed the development of IVF and its relations. The number of children born as a result of all these donations where assisted birth technologies of various kinds are used is already substantial. This chapter discusses a number of issues relating to this topic including informing children born from these procedures, change of mind in a gamete donor, and making babies after death. It underlines the importance of autonomy, informed understanding, and foresight in the process of considering, and deciding, to be a gamete donor.

This chapter considers the cost barrier to using assisted reproductive technology, with particular emphasis on the jurisprudential and practical issues surrounding the commodification of sperm, eggs, and embryos. It explores how questions relating to commodification—for example, price, market access, safety of gametes, and sale of children—are intertwined with regulation of the resulting relationships, such as whether sperm donors can assert parental rights or whether children will be able to learn the identity of their donors. The discussion begins with an overview of the market in gametes and proceeds by focusing on commodification anxiety and how it hinders the need to regulate the process of gamete transfer. The chapter also explores various options for controlling the commodification of gametes.