Who Am I?

A poignant exploration of what it means to be a donor-conceived child

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• bioethics
• assisted
• reproduction
• surrogacy
• family
• donor-conceived
• child
• egg
• donation
• sperm
• gestational
• parents
• court
• artificial
• insemination
• identity
• questions
• adoption
• property
• choice
• right
• reproductive
• rights
• pregnancy
• heritage
• newborn
• baby

[pennyandrosie]

I am also donor conceived. Although I am thankful for bringing attention to the identity concerns of donor conceived, the description obviously cannot be applied to all donor conception arrangements. I believe that there are several valid bio-ethical issues you are attempting to address. It's complicated and I don't discredit what you are trying to convey. I think it would be very worthwhile if you could break down the various ethical concerns that you are attempting to address.

[TennesseeBioethics]

Thank you. Certainly this is a hard case, but it serves as a place to begin.

Here are some of the questions we as a society need to be asking ourselves.

Do children have a right to know their heritage, genetic predispositions, parents and siblings?

Do they have a right to know that they are donor-conceived?

When we "produce children" through increasingly technological means, are we receiving them as gifts, or are they becoming/have they become projects?

Are embryos/children property?

[vtazjmc]

This video is terrible. The problems of divorce and whether a child is wanted have little or no to do with donor conception. The case in this video is incredibly rare. My daughter is donor conceived, and I can tell you for SURE she is totally loved by both parents, as well as both families. Spreading this kind of slanted, exxageratied message does a great disservice to all of the donor families in this world.

[TennesseeBioethics]

This video is a response to a particular case that raises questions applicable to

other donor-conceived children. These are questions we all need to consider. Each of us, whatever our birth circumstances, asks important questions like, "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?" For donor-conceived persons,

these can be particularly poignant.  The Tennessee Center for Bioethics &

Culture developed this video to help get these issues before the public. Thank

you for contributing to the conversation.

[Ripbud]

@TennesseeBioethics While I think at the last part of your response you have valid questions to the legal aspect should such cases arise - in regards to this video - You've turned into something that in most cases it's not about. The motivation behind the egg donor program has to be considered and and the outcomes which are so much more "human" than this video gives credit. This video tends to attack the family's indirectly rather than the legal issue which could arise.

[boudoiramani]

None of have any right to decide if we are born, regardless of the circumstances in which we are born.

[MhicWombat]

How can something that is not human have human rights?

[pennyandrosie]

Ugh, I meant to post: "INTENTIONALLY creating a person that will be prohibited from being loved and nurtured by their biological/ genetic family (i.e. mother/father/grandparents/aun­ts/uncles/cousins etc.) the people they come from and belong to, as well as creating personal identity loss through anonymous donor conception, is the ONLY INTENTIONAL trauma in the world where the victims, including the offspring of the donor conceived, are expected by the whole of society to be grateful."

[pennyandrosie]

Such as:

"Being loved and nurtured by biological family the people we come from and belong to as well as personal identity loss through donor conception is the only INTENTIONAL trauma in the world where the victims, including the offspring of the donor conceived, are expected by the whole of society to be grateful."

(I wish I could edit but this post is not in order. Since comments only allow 500 characters, I divided this post in 3 parts. See previous posts to read in order.)

[pennyandrosie]

How about:

"Biological family and identity loss whether through adoption or donor conception are the only traumas in the world where the victims are expected by the whole of society to be grateful."

But let's be fully honest although adoption and donor conception share many of the same issues, donor conception takes ethics one BIG step further. I would re-word this statement in a way that sets donor conception apart from adoption:

(see following post)

[pennyandrosie]

A donor conceived friend of mine shared a quote she found:

"Adoption loss is the only trauma in the world

where the victims are expected by the whole of society

to be grateful." --Anonymous

I did an internet search to see if I could find the source and "Reverend Keith C. Griffith" was noted as the original source for the quote.

She asked "There's got to be a way to word this to include us"

I wrote back:

(see next post)

[j0nnyr0cket]

Thank you for your video. I believe it is a great avenue for getting the discussion started on these difficult issues.

[vincentsmomndad]

It is amazing what lengths closed-minded buffoons will go to in order to try to make a point that they don't even understand themselves. Sure, donor conceived children whose parents get divorced are sad -- but I'm not donor conceived, and I was sad when my parents got divorced, too. I also get sad when parents kill their biological kids, and I hate when mean people cut in line (but not as much as the killing stuff). The video is just fundamentalist propaganda.