Black Market For Sperm

According to an article in the BBC there is a large black market for sperm donation in the UK.

People are meeting online through unregulated sites and arranging either to have sex or receive samples from donors.

I can understand the desire for children and the barriers to using regulated sperm donation, but this practice raises all kinds of questions about health of the children, STIs, and ethical questions about fertility and overpopulation.

Some of the barriers to using regulated sperm donors can be lack of money to pay for donation, age restrictions (too young or too old), sexual orientation, marital status, or for the donor the sperm not being strong enough to freeze and thaw and still be viable, or having donated to a maximum of 10 families.

In some cases I think it might be legitimate for people to go to the black market, for example if they are a gay couple that has been denied by the system. But I have a feeling that in the majority of cases black market sperm would be a huge risk to the mother involved and her potential future children.

For example, there would be no way to know if the donor had any STIs. This could lead to both mother and baby being infected with any number of diseases with life-long consequences, for example HIV or those leading to infertility or cancers.

As well, in terms of health backgrounds, there would also be no way to know if the donor was honest about his family’s history. Again, this could lead to potential disease for the future children such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

In terms of age, I tend to agree with the officials that if someone is too young or too old they should not get the donation.

First of all, being too young means that they still have a few years ahead in which to find a partner and in which their fertility would not be compromised. Of course, I think it would depend on the particular case, but in general there is still time and perhaps the donations should go to someone more in need.

Being too old to receive a sperm donation is something I tend to agree with as well but I am not sure where to draw the line. How old is too old? I think that once women are peri-menopausal they definitely should not be trying to get pregnant. We were designed this way for a reason and having children after that age would leave us too old to care for them properly. There are enough people having children in our overpopulated world that women who are too old to naturally bear children probably shouldn’t be trying to.

But how old is too old? Should anyone dictate when and how we are able to have children? Is having children not a universal human right? Or is it something that needs to be restricted to reduce the overpopulation of the planet?

It is the answers to these questions that leaves me confused and unable to determine whether individual rights should come before rights of the population as a whole. I have a feeling that these are questions that will never be answered satisfactorily as there are too many factors involved and too many possible outcomes. Perhaps there is no solution to the question of age?