Why We Need a Free Market in Sperm
From Radio NZ
"Fertility clinics are turning down sperm donations from gay men because of Australian regulations aimed at curbing the spread of HIV, a fertility specialist says.
A Wellington man says he has been discriminated against after he was rejected by a sperm bank as a donor because he is gay.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he decided to donate sperm after hearing media reports last week of a donor shortage.
He says when he called the clinic he was shocked to hear they would not accept him as a donor.
The clinic involved, Fertility Associates, says it cannot accept sperm donations from gay men because of Australian regulations, which control the accreditation of sperm banks in both Australia and New Zealand.
Fertility Associates medical director Dr Richard Fisher says the organisation has requested a review of the policy on several occasions as donor testing is now advanced enough to ensure safety.
But he says the Reproductive Technologies Accreditation Committee, which controls sperm bank accreditation in both Australia and New Zealand, continues to require all donors are heterosexual."
This perfectly illustrates the anomalies that arise when market forces are not allowed to function.
We have a big problem with infertility in this country, caused partly by the Chlamydia "boom", lowered male fertility and women delaying motherhood into their '30s or even '40s.
State funded abortions run at 18,000 per year. Adoption is little encouraged by the state, which has an effective stranglehold on the practice.
Sperm donations are "drying up", because the state dictates that donors can no longer remain anonymous and may be liable to find an 18 year old or two turning up on their door step looking for "daddy".
Then when a gay man wants to donate sperm, a state mandated regulatory authority turns him away. All this state interference means that fewer children are born and more adults miss out on the joys of parenthood.
Why the hell, is the government involved in regulating the conception of children, anyway?
"Fertility clinics are turning down sperm donations from gay men because of Australian regulations aimed at curbing the spread of HIV, a fertility specialist says.
A Wellington man says he has been discriminated against after he was rejected by a sperm bank as a donor because he is gay.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he decided to donate sperm after hearing media reports last week of a donor shortage.
He says when he called the clinic he was shocked to hear they would not accept him as a donor.
The clinic involved, Fertility Associates, says it cannot accept sperm donations from gay men because of Australian regulations, which control the accreditation of sperm banks in both Australia and New Zealand.
Fertility Associates medical director Dr Richard Fisher says the organisation has requested a review of the policy on several occasions as donor testing is now advanced enough to ensure safety.
But he says the Reproductive Technologies Accreditation Committee, which controls sperm bank accreditation in both Australia and New Zealand, continues to require all donors are heterosexual."
This perfectly illustrates the anomalies that arise when market forces are not allowed to function.
We have a big problem with infertility in this country, caused partly by the Chlamydia "boom", lowered male fertility and women delaying motherhood into their '30s or even '40s.
State funded abortions run at 18,000 per year. Adoption is little encouraged by the state, which has an effective stranglehold on the practice.
Sperm donations are "drying up", because the state dictates that donors can no longer remain anonymous and may be liable to find an 18 year old or two turning up on their door step looking for "daddy".
Then when a gay man wants to donate sperm, a state mandated regulatory authority turns him away. All this state interference means that fewer children are born and more adults miss out on the joys of parenthood.
Why the hell, is the government involved in regulating the conception of children, anyway?
posted by Trevor Loudon at
1/21/2006 02:55:00 PM
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