https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2MD0qJkWzU

There are times when fiction and reality seem indistinguishable. Sometimes comedy can ask some serious questions. Occasionally I see things in the news that have been foreshadowed by books or movies. Such was the case last week with a news story that brought to mind some moral and ethical issues.

I saw the Quebec-made film Starbuck when it came out, and was impressed with its humorous handling of a serious topic. I thought it was a really funny film that at the same time raised some interesting moral questions. I didn’t see the American remake, Delivery Man, because I figured it couldn’t improve on the original

Both provide an interesting look at some of the issues surrounding reproduction and sperm donation, centred on one particular sperm donor. It was similar, somewhat, to the news regarding one donor who lied and got caught. Now the lawsuits are flying fast.

Turns out this donor’s IQ wasn’t the same as Albert Einstein’s. And he has a history of mental illness. People who paid the sperm bank for his services are angry. They feel they have been duped. It isn’t as if they can return the product. Their perfect child is not as perfect as they paid for. Might even be defective. Now what do they do?

Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should, and obviously there are some still unresolved ethical issues when dealing with infertility.

As someone who has children I know I run the risk of being seen as insensitive when the issue is brought up. I do sympathize with those who want children and can’t conceive naturally, for whatever reason. But I don’t see having children as a right. And I do think there are huge ethical and moral issues surrounding in-vitro fertilization and sperm donation, to name two methods that have become fairly common. Or maybe I’m just naive – if you want a child that overrides all other considerations.

I have so many questions surrounding this news story that I hardly know where to begin. Parents are suing the clinic, but I imagine the donor will be suing also. His donation was supposed to be anonymous. The clinic somehow let his name slip. A quick online search revealed his past and his lies. Without the release of his name, the parents would have been eagerly watching the development of their budding geniuses. Instead they are looking for signs of mental illness and some lawyers will be raking in cash hand over fist.

It hadn’t occurred to me that clinic donor profiles would be so specific about things like IQ. I thought, perhaps naively, that health would be important, race perhaps, and some general information, but nothing as specific as IQ.

Do people even know their IQ? I don’t know what mine is, though I am sure there are online tests I could take. Does it matter? Turns out there are free tests, I just looked. I don’t have the patience for that sort of thing, and a completely random response to the 20 questions posed gave me an IQ of 75. No chance of a second career as a sperm donor I guess. I could have taken it more seriously, but then I would have had to read the questions, and where is the fun in that?

In tomorrow’s post I will ask more questions about this situation, but I wanted to to take break right now and give you the opportunity to answer my reader survey. Only five questions and won’t take long – and the survey closes Saturday night, so why delay?

http://lorneanderson.polldaddy.com/s/have-your-say