Should Sperm Donors Be Forced To Assist Financially When Lesbian Parents Split Up...?

Question

Do you agree it is right for this man to *ahem* cough up?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=4ZSQPEXZ3H02TQFIQMGSFF4AVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/12/03/nsperm103.xml

A sperm donor who helped a lesbian couple have two children is now being forced to pay thousands of pounds for their upbringing, he said.

Andy Bathie, 37, agreed to assist Sharon and Terri Arnold - who were united in a religious blessing ceremony - after they assured him he would have no involvement in raising the boy and girl.

But after the couple slit up he was tracked down by the Child Support Agency and forced to make regular maintenance payments.

Mr Bathie, a fireman from Enfield, north London, said the financial burden was preventing him from starting his own family.

Answer 1

Of course not. The man was a doner of some sperm which helped to create a baby for another couple.
There should really be some rules in place about sperm donation and the rights of the doner should be laid out before anyone else gets caught.

If I was donated bone marrow or the like and my body rejected it, should the doner pay my legal costs?

Answer 2

I don't understand why he doesn't acquaint himself with and become a part of the child's life. Obviously, there can be no legal obstacle to this. He should have made it legal that he had zero responsibility. This sort of thing is not uncommon. Lets say a bloke gets his girlfriend pregnant, and wants to keep the child. She doesn't, fair enough, she gets an abortion. However, if the woman wants the child and the man doesn't, he has no say in it. He is now tied down, financially and emotionally, for 18 years. The law is not on the man's side and this dumbass should have taken this into consideration before shooting his load off at two people who, most likely, hate men. And gay people raising children is not the key problem, believe, they are checked much more stringently than any straight couple and conception among gay people is still pretty rare. Young, single people raising children is a much bigger problem, for example, and is much more prevalent.

Answer 3

Ultimately, women will ruin it for themselves. Since sperm donors are no longer annoymous the numbers of donors have plummeted - in some towns there are no donors at all. Now, with stories like this, men just won't bother. This poor man should most definitely not be made to pay a penny towards this child and the women concerned should be ashamed of themselves. Is it any wonder why men just don't want to committ to women in any way - I can't say I blame them. They just seem to be seen as walking sperm donors and wallets - when they have served their purpose they are surplus to requirements.

Answer 4

No, there is nothing in a girls body that produce sperm, the sperm donor and adoption are the only 2 ways for 2 girls have a child together.

Answer 5

Anybody directly involved in producing a child, should be
prepared to face full responsibility, for that child.
In the event that the lesbian couple had both been killed in an accident, would he then feel responsible for the child?

Too many people are circumventing the natural laws, without
any consideration for the welfare of the children.

If this guy was throwing his sperm around, without too much concern for the possible consequences, to both the children
or himself, I find it very difficult to summon up too much
sympathy for him.

For his sake, I hope he hasn't spread too much more of it about.

Answer 6

Yes, he is the father. So he *ahem* coughs up. Also If I was a women I would think twice about starting a family with him, if he does not want to contribute anything to his previous offspring.
He is a donor, but he is not father material. The only person he loves is himself.
The only person I feel sorry for is the child.

Answer 7

Sperm donors are just donors, and should be considered donors only! How would we feel if someone donated an organ to a stranger and then were forced to support that stranger financially if the stranger's health didn't improve all that much? Sperm donors should fall into the same legal and ethical category as organ donors.

Answer 8

No, he is just the donor. If the couple split up, the one the child isn't with should make the maintenance payments, just like normal hetrosexual couples.

Answer 9

Very interesting question.
I personally think that he should not be punished for trying to help someone out. The Lesbian woman should not make him pay if she was any kind of a good woman

Answer 10

no. it's a joke. i thought about being a sperm donor - until i found out that the kids of my sperm had the right to trace me.

the generosity of sperm donors allows people who cant have children to have them. it's a disgrace that these people would then ask the sperm donor to pay for the kid's upbringing.

if that's the law then it needs changing, otherwise don't be surprised if sperm banks run out of deposits