A thought-provoking study examines the lives of people fathered by sperm donors

Experts estimate that at least 30,000 American babies are born each year to mothers who were artificially inseminated by a sperm donor. With the fertility industry subject to such light regulation in this country, it’s not easy for researchers to study the health – physical or mental – of these children as they grow.

But researchers affiliated with the University of Texas at Austin were able to find 485 adults who said they were fathered by sperm donors. The researchers – including one who doesn’t know the identity of the sperm donor her parents used to conceive her – assessed the group’s feelings about growing up without their biological fathers. Their views – and their personal histories – were compared to 562 adults who were adopted when they were infants and 563 who grew up with both biological parents.

In many respects, the offspring of sperm donors are not doing well. Here’s how the researchers summarized the findings of their study, “My Daddy’s Name Is Donor:”

We learned that, on average, young adults conceived through sperm donation are hurting more, are more confused, and feel more isolated from their families. They fare worse than their peers raised by biological parents on important outcomes such as depression, delinquency and substance abuse.

Nearly two-thirds agree, “My sperm donor is half of who I am.” Nearly half are disturbed that money was involved in their conception. More than half say that when they see someone who resembles them they wonder if they are related. Almost as many say they have feared being attracted to or having sexual relations with someone to whom they are unknowingly related.

Approximately two-thirds affirm the right of donor offspring to know the truth about their origins. And about half of donor offspring have concerns about or serious objections to donor conception itself, even when parents tell their children the truth.

However, despite those reservations, the researchers found that  20% of those surveyed had already participated in some sort of assisted reproduction as adults, either as sperm/egg donors or as surrogate mothers. That compared with only 1% of the adults raised by their biological parents and 0% of those who were adopted.

The full report (whose title comes from a T-shirt) was released online by the Commission on Parenthood’s Future. Two of the authors wrote a thoughtful essay on their findings that was posted Monday on Slate. You can also read an executive summary and list of 15 major findings.

-- Karen Kaplan

Photo: Vials of frozen sperm sit in tanks at California Cryobank in Westwood. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

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Comments

[Jay L]

Check out the thread over on Slate... various folks point out a lot of the weaknesses in this 'research'. Some highlights: not peer-reviewed, authors more closely tied to the conservative Institute for American Values than any university, and appears to be mostly meant as a criticism of lesbians and single women having children.

[Bill]

OMG! Say it isn't true! The LA Times using a "conservative" source for a story. What is the world coming to?

[Kelly M Bray]

Single women having children is a selfish and narcissistic choice. It should be criticized. If you want a child, adopt one from the tens of thousands that are waiting to find a home.

[Raffi]

Children who dwell upon the identity of their "biological" parents, despite being raised by real parents are merely reflecting a societal fixation on something quite irrelevant.

Steve Jobs is adopted, and he says quite clearly that he has one set of parents - the ones that raised him. It really is that simple...

[Brin]

Why is the Times a lackey for this right-wing drivel? This article and the "report" is a bunch of radical "opinionating" pretending to be a "study". Give this article, this "report" and the LA Times a "zero" for credibility and thoughtfulness.

[Single Mom]

Kelly- Your response is remarkably short-sighted and judgmental. If you had ever done any research into the adoption process, you would know that it is an option that is quite frankly unavailable to many, particularly single people. The legalities involved and the associated COST are prohibitive to many otherwise capable loving parents. Sperm donation costs a fraction of the amount of the TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars that adoption agencies charge. Even for a person with a stable middle-class income, who would most certainly be able to support a child, the cost of adoption can be extremely prohibitive.

Additionally, the desire of a "single" woman to have a child is NO different from the desire of any other woman to have a child. Single women want to raise children for the exact same reasons that married women do, and your assumption that that desire is based in narcissism only if the woman is "single" is a prejudiced perspective that is remarkably lacking in compassion.

[MamaRee]

As a parent of a sperm-donor child (which my husband and I decided was the best course for pregnancy with regard to our infertility issue) I can tell you that our child is well-adjusted, healthy and happy.

I find it really hard to believe that a child with a sperm donor father would feel concerned about funds spent in relation to their conception ($170 for the sperm, in our case and about $400 for insemination and physician consult -nothing regarding fertility was covered by insurance) as opposed to an adopted child: $3000-5000 dollars (on average) in attorney's fees and a mandatory $500 minimum to the state for background check/federal criminal investigation and that's the basics. I know this first hand, I work in Family Law.

This study wasn't peer-reviewed which means it lacks credibility. Further, it was sponsored by a right-wing conservative group call the Institute for American Values. Also, I noticed that it mentions sperm donor/sperm banks are not regulated. They are regulated by the FDA and some states, like California have additional regulations.

I'd love to see some REAL research on the issue of parentage, peer-reviewed and not sponsored by a special interest group.

Bottom line: If it's hard to believe it's probably because it isn't true.