'white' lesbian couple sue sperm bank over black baby

[the_antithesis]

And a harbinger of things to come.... designer babies, made to order.

I'm going to sue when the lesbian baby I ordered grows up and has a fondness for cock.

[Munch]

I'm going to sue when the lesbian baby I ordered grows up and has a fondness for cock.

funny as it sounds, I still think its freakish to have people mess around with how your babies genes will develop. Sure its a good thing to prevent genetic diseases that can lead to problems later in life, but if they got to that stage, it wouldn't be long before they start to aim for genetically coded baby butter, blue eyed option, blond haired option, a generation of paris hiltons..

[AllPurposeAtheist]

*sigh*

Fine, it means a white person *GASP* had sex with a black person.

Don't tell the eugenics police, but I had sex with a black person.... More than once!

[stromboli]

I am ten years older than APA and understand the issue of having a mixed race baby. Locally here, it is not an issue because this is an Air Force influenced area and there are mixed race couples all over. But go into backwoods Utah into the "white and delightsome" minded mormon communities, and I'll tell you mixed race families are not well received, to say the least.

The likelihood of a city with less than 15,000 people having a black family, much less mixed race is even small. Regardless of how you judge the lesbian couple, i can certainly see their side of the issue.

[Munch]

I am ten years older than APA and understand the issue of having a mixed race baby. Locally here, it is not an issue because this is an Air Force influenced area and there are mixed race couples all over. But go into backwoods Utah into the "white and delightsome" minded mormon communities, and I'll tell you mixed race families are not well received, to say the least.

The likelihood of a city with less than 15,000 people having a black family, much less mixed race is even small. Regardless of how you judge the lesbian couple, i can certainly see their side of the issue.

which would be areas I wouldn't live around either. But like say, if a community is able to be accepting of a lesbian couple and them having children in the first place, I'd more then imagine it would be progressive enough to accept mixed race children. The fact the two lesbians here are the ones who don't act progressive about wanting to live in an all white community is just.. unsettling.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I wonder if 'white' was just a box they check off or is it some ironclad guarantee as seen on TV.. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! If you act now we'll toss in an extra white kid to DOUBLE your order! You just pay the small shipping and handling charges and agree to not sue us for criminal negligence!

[Atheon]

I find this case a very interesting ethical conundrum.

I think both parties are at fault: the sperm bank for negligence and the parents for being kinda racist. I also sympathize with both sides somewhat.

[Poison Tree]

I think people are getting overly focused on the race aspect of this. I don't know specifically how the sperm bank they went to works, but I doubt that they just said "give us any white guy's sperm", especially since they wanted donor 380. In my limited experience, sperm banks generally want to know--in addition to physical aspects-- family medical history, family education history, IQ, job, hobbies, ect. One bank talks about your child recognizing their button nose and artistic talent in their donor father. I have no idea what all was included in this couple's list of traits they wanted from their donor, but I doubt "white" was the entire list and the sperm bank threw all that out the window and gave them the sperm of some random guy--who happened to be black--instead. If their allegations that the bank had no electronic records or safeguards are tue then this may not be the first time it has happened either.

Ultimately, the sperm bank's actions sound like malpractice (to this non-lawyer) and the couple looks justified in suing (again, to me) and hopefully would have done the same if they got the sperm of the wrong white guy too.

[Solitary]

I don't understand the criticism of the couple here. They never said they didn't want the baby, love her, or wanted to send her back. They just said they didn't get sperm from the person on the profile they had accepted. Why is this a race card debate?  Solitary

[Munch]

I don't understand the criticism of the couple here. They never said they didn't want the baby, love her, or wanted to send her back. They just said they didn't get sperm from the person on the profile they had accepted. Why is this a race card debate?  Solitary

Well, cause the parents themselves made it so, saying stuff like how they live in an all white area and they wanted a white child so its not faced with discrimination for being black in this 'all white' area.
The fact these are two lesbian women, while as many people consider gay couples to be taboo as much as mixed race, makes you wonder how these two think about the implication of racism when the kid having gay parents is a none issue in there eyes.

And thats not me being homophobic I am gay, but you get my point, if its an all white area that would have issues with a mix race family, then surely the same would be for gay parents with a child. In other words the parents seem rather selective of what they consider an 'issue' here.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Seems to me the easy solution would have been, "Hey Frank.. Do you mind jerking off in this test tube for me?" But what do I know?

[SGOS]

I'm pretty sure the sperm bank needs to do a better job at keeping track of their sperm.  For me, there is not enough information to determine whether or not these women are at some kind of fault.  But the sperm bank screwed up, and they know it.

[SGOS]

Seems to me the easy solution would have been, "Hey Frank.. Do you mind jerking off in this test tube for me?" But what do I know?

I worked for a Lesbian boss years ago, who announced at a staff meeting that she wanted to have a baby and was considering looking for a guy to get her pregnant.  I'm sure she had certain standards that the guy would have to meet.  I pictured her interviewing various candidates.  Mostly, I wondered why she brought it up at the staff meeting.  Was she fishing?  I dunno, but it seemed weird.  She left at the end of the year and moved to San Francisco.  I don't know if she ever got pregnant.

[Munch]

Speaking myself as an A.I.D child, theres a curious notion in all this. i'm a white British guy who's mother is also white and obviously my donor father was white to, though dunno who he is. But this story made me think if I was born a half black half white if it would make a difference? I went to schools with mixed cultures and skin colors, and even had friends of mixed race and colors, so that wouldn't be an issue.

Also just a thought, if it was a primary black area if I had a mother who was black but the donor father was white, would a half black half white child be faced with discrimination in that area?

[Jason Harvestdancer]

The city they are in is a "white flight" city, founded pretty much to give people a place to go to get away from all the "coloreds" moving in to other neighborhoods.

Yep.  The North gave us White Flight, which is why the South is so racist.