There a study about the mental and emotional well-being of sperm-donor conceived persons, and how well they generally fare in life compared to naturally born children and adopted children.
The study stirrs up quiet some controversy, but makes for an interesting and insightful read.
The infertility in the United States generates a revenue of $3.3 billion USD a year.
Interestingly, the largest sperm bank in the world is in Denmark and ships 3/4 of sperm donations worldwide.
According to estimates, around 30k-60k children are born in the USA each year through sperm donation.
According to the study, young adults who are conceived through donation feel more isolated from their families, are hurting more and are more emotionally confused than other people. Compared with children who were raised by their biological parents, rates of depression, crime and drug abuse are higher.
However, we should also look at the background of the person’s who did this study. Where they really qualified researchers?
Elizabeth Marquardt holds a Master’s in Divinity.
Given the religious background, it’s quiet easy to see that there’s a bias against egg donation that already existed before the study. So it might be questioned how objective she was in gather her data.
*** UPDATE from June 18: Elizabeth commented on this post and said that her religion does not have teachings regarding reproductive technologies, so I apologize, her religious views obviously did not influence her views or the results of the study ***
A lot of people seem to hold the opinion that people who have trouble conceiving a child naturally should not try to use egg- or sperm-donation to conceive a child, because “it treats children as a commodity, rather than a gift from god”.
Following that kind of logic, a person that is sick should not visit a doctor or take medication to get better – because it would treat health and life as a commodity, rather than a gift from god. However, I rarely hear this kind of reasoning from the same people that are opposed to egg- or sperm-donation (which too is a medical problem, like diseases, not a religious problem).
This study will surely spread widely and be referenced to by a lot of people who are opposed to egg donation because of religious reasons.
"I was devastated and so was my husband after being told by my fertility specialist at age 38 that I had no option but to consider adoption or donor eggs (according to my doctor I was out of eggs and gave me 4% chance of getting pregnant and a 2% chance of carrying a baby to full term). After much research and dozens of hours reading infertility related articles and posts online, I have found your book! [...] After one month of trying I became pregnant and had a beautiful healthy boy. Nine months after that I did everything in your book again and after 2 months of trying I got pregnant again and gave birth to another perfect little boy."
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi there — Glad you’ve taken a look at the study. It’s on sperm donor offspring (not egg donor offspring). Glad you’ve also checked out my credentials. My religion does not have teachings regarding reproductive technologies. (I am a member of the Baha’i Faith.)
My best,
Elizabeth Marquardt
Hi Elizabeth,
thanks for visiting and clarifying, my mistake then, sorry about that.