Is Donating Sperm a Sin?
I don’t know if this is the place to post something like this, but as you know, I’m a college student and I just applied to be a sperm donor with a friend of mine, (she’s donating her eggs). Our college is not too far from the clinic, and she told me all about it. Since I know masturbation it’s totally normal and healthy, it seemed to be a good way to help other couples to achieve their dream of having a baby while earning a couple of dollars. I already passed the test (with my sperm sample and some questions). By the way, I used MH stories to create the sample in the private room ?.
I just talked to my sister and told her lightheartedly that I just became a sperm donor, and she didn’t believe me at first. But then said I meant it, and we are a little concerned about some of the ramifications. What if my future children date each other or something like that?
My sister also told me that she wouldn’t date someone that donated his sperm to other women.
I really loved the experience, and I want to help other couples, but I’d like to know what my MH family think.
This is a very personal choice. Yes you will probably have genetic offspring out there that you will never know. That might bother some people. But you ARE doing a service to others who desire children and probably have fertility issues or some other reason they can’t have kids. I see no real moral problem with donating sperm. God bless you for wanting to help your fellowman and actually doing something about it.
i don't find any problem with donating my semen to other women and helping them to become a mother, but what I'm concerned about is how my wife would react to that "secret."
Ok dude, a few things to consider… I am not going to attempt to make a Scriptural case for or against sperm donation–I will leave that task to others here. I think there are some other things to consider. Although I am married now (and wouldn't consider being a sperm donor at this point), I was a single college guy a few years ago and did briefly consider sperm donation. A couple things led me away from doing it. I was uncomfortable with the idea of fathering children that I would not raise myself, with a woman who was not my wife. Maybe that doesn't bother you–it's more a matter of perspective I guess. I think it would also make for a difficult conversation with your spouse in the future if she was not as cool with this idea as you are. Finally, probably a more practical reason for me was the limitations that are imposed on ejaculation. Most clinics want you to commit to 9-12 months of donations 2-3x weekly. They usually tell you not to ejaculate within 48 hours of donation. That would have meant basically no masturbation between donation sessions. I can't speak for you, but I decided I preferred to jack off whenever/wherever I felt like it rather than at 2-day intervals in some clinic room. To me, edging for an hour or two before release on my own time and enjoying the experience was worth more than the $40-$50 per session just trying to get it done and get out at the clinic. There are definitely other ways to make money in college.
Totally, I have to abstain from masturbation during that time, but I think that was why I became a sperm donor: because I don't want to waste my semen. I can at least use it to help other women and create life, and after all, God said be fruitful and multiply.
Wow, interesting question. I never thought about the idea of two “half siblings” dating each other. Interesting but also pretty far fetched. I wonder about all the genetic testing with DNA that’s becoming more readily available. I assume in 20 or 30 years, it will be pretty easy for your sperm donor kids to track you as the father. Are you OK with that? Not that you owe them anything, but what would it be like to know you fathered a dozen… or dozens of children. If that’s a positive feeling, then go for it.
“Is Donating Sperm a Sin?”
I don’t know if there is anything in the Bible that could be pointed to that would say it is a sin. However, there are plenty of considerations about doing this- the most important I believe would be based upon your sister’s response are you willing to face the possibility of the “woman of your dreams” not wanting to be joined with you for life knowing the possibility that you may have biological children with other women out there? Are you going to discuss this with potential fiancée so she can make a decision about the ramifications? Are you going to be willing to have an uncomfortable discussion with the children of you and your wife about it?
Also important is can you live happily with the possibility of having biological children that you have no relationship with?
Personally it would be “no, I won’t donate my sperm.” Back in the day when I was in college we donated plasma to make a few extra dollars and help people who needed it. All I have to show for that is a memory.
Yes, that's a scary idea, that my son/daughter might date my donor-conceived children. I've been reading a lot of donor-conceived people, and I think I messed up. I already gave 4 samples, and I don't know what to do. They want at least 45 samples of my semen, and reading all these comments and testimonies, I don't feel comfortable continuing, but I also saw a video of a donator when his children (19) got in contact with him, and it was great! In fact, his children were greatful to their biological father.
Every person is grateful for their biological parents because…. well…. life. And the donor may have had a positive encounter. But, imagine that same experience being replicated 40 times. It might not feel as positive the 35th time a biological child tracks you down. Think about “21 and Me” and “Ancestory.com”. In 20+ Years it will be easier than ever to take a blood test and find your biological parents.
Interesting discussion. I don't know. I had a vas. many years ago.
I don’t know man, I don’t think I’d want to date a man who had potentially fathered hundreds of children. I read this whole news story awhile back about these hundreds of siblings that found each other and had created a Facebook group to connect. I just think it’s weird and dangerous. Emotionally hard on the kids that come from it and you have no idea what kind of lives they are living. To me it seems reckless. Plus the potential that they could end up dating each other.
I’d recommend reading the page on the Center for Bioethics and Culture website titled “Sperm Donation.” They provide well thought out analysis of this complex issue, as there are many 2nd and 3rd order effects to sperm donation, IVF, and artificial insemination.
There is also an audio clip and transcript on the Desiring God website worth looking at. That segment is specifically about IVF, but it has implications for sperm donation as well.
Certainly don’t take the issue lightly, and stopping to think deeply about this issue is a great start. I’m glad you’re thinking about it.
I have considered throughout the years to donate sperm. And I don't think it's a biblical sin to do so. But to me, it has quite some consequences for the future too. In my opinion, a child has to have the right to know his/her father. I have seen too many programs on tv, where people don't know their father or mother. And what a sadness that brings to the children. A child wants to know where their habits are from.
Again I don't have any negative thoughts about you donating sperm for couples who can't have children. But also think about the future of those children.
Both sides make interesting points. I do not see the Bible being against it. However, the potential number of offspring and possible incest is a concern.
Oh! You're back! I've missed you! Welcome home, Marge!?
Thanks Crazy Happy.
I did this a number of years ago – over 25 years now. I also needed the money and $45 per donation and 3x a week was meaningful to me at that time. I did it for a year, and obviously, made a lot of donations over that time. I have never done a 23 and me type thing, but I am sure my kids will start doing those one of these days. Kinda scared to be honest. Don't live in the same state where I did it, but who knows….
Sperm banks carefully match sperm and egg donors as well as recipients of in vitro donated sperm. Couples that can’t conceive due to the husband’s infertility are blessed when an anonymous donor’s sperm creates new life for them to love and nurture. It would be important for the child conceived in this manner to be told about their conception and provided a DNA panel to be screened upon their own marriage. We have close friends that enjoy the grandparenting of two children conceived in this manner.
It seems to me that there is nothing unbiblical or unethical about being a sperm donor.
I believe it is a sin.
The family images God, from the love of the Father and the Son, spirates the Holy Spirit. It is the image of the family that images God. Man and woman come together in marriage, and from that union springs children.
Gods plan ties children to the marital act. An artificial act of conception breaks that image and commodifies children. I believe all such acts: sperm donation, egg donation, IVF, surrogacy is all wrong and sinful.
And children have a right to their natural mother and father. People do no have a right to children. Sperm donation, etc., puts things in the wrong order; it puts adult's 'wants', ahead of children's rights. That is disordered and wrong.
My heart goes out to those who are having difficulty having children, but this is to the way to do it; children must come from love, not a third parties intervention. By all means, use science to answer the cause of infertility, but not via artificial methods of conception.
With all due respect, this feels extremely legalistic. The Bible warns us not to have a spirit of legalism. The law is good but legalism is not, and saying that couples that can't have kids should not get a donor screams legalism to me.
That's like saying we shouldn't go to doctors because God has given our bodies the ability to heal themselves and getting medical help goes against God's original design. We are born into sin, and some bodies are more imperfect than others. This is how we get JW's dying because they refuse blood transfusions. We are born at a particular time in history for a reason. For some people, they are born now because God needs them to have a child using these methods.
We also have to take into account that there is a real issue with the rise in infertility that is not being discussed by the media for people in my age group. More and more couples are struggling to conceive due to things in the food, plastics, lower sperm counts, birth control etc. There is also a thing called unexplained infertility, where science can't provide a reason as to why a couple can't conceive a child. There is also social infertility (which is the highest at the moment) which is defined as a person who cannot find a suitable mate to have a child with. As there is a rise in singleness not just in the Church but the world at large, more and more men and women are remaining single than they would like, which puts a majority of people in this catagory (myself included) in social infertility. For those people, if they never get married, at least they have the option of having a child somewhere, even if they never get to know, them. They are able to be a blessing to someone else. Isnt's that what we are called to do?
This site is called MarriageHeat and may be seen by some as how sarah k look at alternative methods of conception…wrong. But the good it's doing is fantastic, and I don't think any of the members here would want the website being shut down. It provides us with with a forum to discuss sex in a marital and Christian context. Some would argue that this is wrong and goes against God's design for sex for procreation only. But that is not in Scripture, and neither is only having babies through typical conception. There are alternative methods to having sex and there are alternative methods to having babies. Neither should be looked down upon or you run the risk of hypocrisy which we are also told to avoid as Christians. We should not just write off things that we don't understand as sin out of fear. That does more harm than good.
I once thought of sperm donation, but a few things made me decide not to continue with it. First, the idea that I will not raise those children in the way of the Lord terrifies me. What if they are raised by someone who hates Christ? What would that lead to if not them becoming like the ones who raise them? My spirit couldn't accept that unless there were a way to give a condition that only Christians be allowed to use my sperm.