Is donating sperm spiritually and morally questionable?

I think it is a very personal decision. Your friend felt it would be so for him because there would be kids he wouldn’t know about; others may not view that way. I don’t think there are absolutes in this matter.

In my mind it is not a question of morality.

I’m not sure otherwise what God would have to do with my sperm. It seems even less a question of spirituality than of morality here.

In other words, I don’t really know what your friend is talking about. In cases like that I think people create their own ‘spiritual and moral complications’.

I personally don’t believe there is anything immoral about sperm/egg donation in the slightest. I don’t believe in a spirit either, so that takes care of how I regard the spiritual aspect as well.

I think it’s a nice thing to do to assist those who wish to have children.

NO

Those aren’t really the words I would associate with it, but it’s obviously a very personal matter and for me at least I don’t know if I could donate sperm (anonymously, that is) because the idea that I would have children out there somewhere that I wouldn’t know seems odd. I wouldn’t call it wrong, because certainly some people would have no problem with it, but for me at least it’s not the right decision. That said, I would do it to help someone I knew.

I certainly don’t think there’s anything morally wrong with it. It would be weird to know you could potentially have children you don’t know out there, but if you’ve ever had a one-night stand with a woman you don’t know, that possibility also exists. Ultimately you’re helping change someone’s life who wants to become pregnant and otherwise cannot, it’s a great thing. I don’t ever see myself donating sperm, but there’s nothing wrong with men who do.

I think it’s a wonderful thing to do for a person who really desires a child and can’t have one, either because her husband has no sperm, or there is noone she wants to have a baby with. The loss one feels when finding out one is infertile is not possible to describe fully. I’ll just say this. It can make you feel like an alien to the human race. Everyone else is trying not to get pregnant and you have no chance of getting anyone pregnant. No chance for children. It’s so much more than heartbreaking to find that out.

For many, sperm donation is one of the last resorts. I don’t see how this can be immoral. I also don’t see how it is spiritually questionable. The creative act is the ultimate experience of spirituality, and making a new life is the ultimate creative act. The whole thing is completely infused with spiritual meaning.

I can’t imagine where a question like this would come from. Perhaps a person with no feelings or empathy for their fellow human? Honestly, I don’t get this. Who would take the possibility of children from anyone? Only the most despicable person could even imagine such a thing, I think.

Perhaps the taking of money for a sperm donation is spiritually and morally questionable.

How else are you going to provide sufficient incentive for someone to drive down there and enter a room where everyone knows you’re cranking one out into a cup? A few bucks seems reasonable.

@cockswain, sperm donors get $1000 – $2000 per donation. It’s a little more than a few bucks.

You could easily pay for grad school doing this.

@BarnacleBill I believe they don’t let you make very many donations, since having too many half-brothers/sisters out there who don’t know each other could result in unintentional incest like Luke and Leia.

@BarnacleBill What? Are you fucking serious? I’ve always thought it was like $50–100. Guess where I’m going as often as possible from now on. I’m going to take a European vacation with my wife.

In the US, a donor cannot produce more than 25 pregnancies in a population area of 800,000.

@cockswain, I stand corrected as the pay rate; that’s for “boutique” donors—medical school/doctors, lawyers, etc. The going rate for regular donors is much lower.

This is an interesting question; I would have never thought to look at this subject.

Well maybe I could pay for a lot of roadtrips to different metro areas. I definitely am not a boutique donor. Be lucky if my profile would land me a couple free magazines per visit.

In NYC, you get paid more if you are willing to be an open ID donor, allowing any offspring access to your identity.

See, I’d have zero problem with that and would be more than happy to meet those kids. If I had 50 kids that found me one day, I’d love that. I don’t feel like there’s anything immoral about that either.

Maybe I’m warped. I’ve had a few drinks waiting for my wife to get home.

This is one of those most private and personal of decisions. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, being a bit old fashioned in my ways.

I know of a woman who hit her mid 30’s and decided she was tired of waiting for ‘Mr Right’ to come along and have a baby with her. She went to her family and told them her plan and they all supported it in the end. She went to Denmark to a clinic and about 9 months later had a lovely new addition to her family. She has a beautiful, healthy baby boy. She’s a wonderful mother and enjoys the support of her family and friends in the raising of him.

This never would have been possible if some man, legally released of his parental duties, hadn’t made the effort to register himself, answer a booklet full of health questions, and donated his sperm. I think it’s a wonderfully selfless thing to do, but I realise it’s not for every man.

Wouldn’t it kind of redeem the sin of wasting all that sperm? Listening to the pro-life lobby, it’s a moral liability to not create and cause to be born all the babies we can possibly manage, and then some. (“Every sperm is sacred” eh?) If it makes someone feel better about donating, perhaps he can think about the recipients as a cadre of unknown handmaidens, per Genesis 16:1–16 or Genesis 30.

Those of you that know me from here know that I am an absolute supporter of sperm donation, those that don’t, well, I hope you meet Katawagrey here, soon, she’s terrific, (and my daughter, thanks to an anonymous sperm donor). Like most have said, it’s a very personal decision, but I feel that choosing to help someone have a family is one of the most loving and selfless things you can do, no matter what the pay scale is. I have known donors who do, indeed, wonder if they have offspring out there, but mostly they hope so, because that means someone was able to have a longed-for child.

No.

Morally? No.

Spiritually? Maybe, depending on how closely you follow the Biblical rule of “don’t spill your seed”.

Sperm donation allows a lot of women (single, gay, or in relationships with men who can’t father children biologically) the opportunity to have children. I think it’s a great thing.

Here’s another vote for no.

I’m @JilltheTooth‘s daughter and I think that donating sperm is a wonderful thing to do. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of when guys say, “I don’t like the idea of having children out there that I don’t know about.” I understand that sperm donation isn’t for everyone or even for most males but this sounds like a paper-thin justification for not wanting to do it to me. If you don’t want to, then don’t. However, if you honestly have moral or spiritual objections, I think you should take a good hard look at why you feel this way. I’m not saying that everyone should donate in fact, I am in favor of a screening process but when people try to justify their active unwillingness, it smacks of ignorance to me.

I know that this is an unpopular opinion and I know that I will take some flak for it but I am prepared for that.

@KatawaGrey I think your opinion is more popular than you think and you make the best arguement for donating I’ve found so far. Someone gave your mother the gift of life and it produced you. Slam dunk answer if I ever saw one. Anyone that gives you flak for that opinion is an ass.

Not to me. It’s an approach which can be used under exceptional circumstances.

@KatawaGrey You mean because almost all of them don’t exactly check in with every one night stand or ex-girlfriend to see if they have children out there they don’t know about?

@papayalily: That is something my mother and I have talked about. Anytime you have sex, there could be a baby. If you are really that worried about children you might not know about, either keep your pants zipped or keep in close contact with every single female you have ever had sex with.

There are many loving people with the financial resources to bring up children in a very comfortable home, but are unable to conceive.

I don’t really see anything wrong with helping those people.

Unless your friend is “donating” merely for the money, then he might think he is basically selling his child.