The unintended consequences of sperm donation

Matters of Life and Death

A recent Netflix documentary, The Man With A 1000 Kids, has shone a light on the often under-discussed topic of sperm donation. It exposes a Dutch man as a prolific and deceptive sperm donor who compulsively fathers children around the world via donated sperm. While an extreme case, it raises important questions about the ethics of bringing children into the world via sperm (or indeed egg) donation. Do we pay enough heed to the feelings and challenges faced by donor-conceived children in our understandable urge to help infertile couples have their miracle baby? Is donating sperm really any different to any other kind of organ donation, or should Christians oppose this kind of reproductive technology? We also consider new research on the enormous numbers of frozen embryos generated via IVF treatment which we in the UK are stockpiling without any clear idea of who or what we think they are, let alone what we will do with them. • Who Am I, the book about donor-conceived children https://www.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=article&id=2159 • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com