Ethical issues surrounding single women using sperm banks to become Research Paper

Ethical issues surrounding single women using sperm banks to become pregnant - Research Paper Example Approximately around eighty thousand such procedures are carried out annually and result in the birth of nearly thirty thousand babies. Moreover, by the 1990s, artificial insemination grew to become a $164 million industry and constituted 11,000 private physicians, 400 sperm banks and about 250 fertility centers (Gaines 1990). Sperm bank collects and stores up sperms from the sperm donors. Sperm donors are first examined for their medical health and then they can donate by way of masturbation. Sperms are then injected into the women’s uterus under the supervision of a qualified doctor or are used to produce an embryo using IVF or other reproductive techniques. (Balen, 2002) Many laws say that if the child is born using the sperms of the woman’s husband then he/she is the legal child of the husband. But laws regarding the child born through the sperms from a third party donor are not clear. Some believe that the child is supposed to be a lawful child of the mother and he r husband but few also presume the child to be illegitimate. Ethical issues associated with this process are looked upon and highlighted by many medical institutions and also nongovernmental organizations and lawmaking departments. This process raises many legal, medical and social concerns. However there are many positive features associated to using this technique as well. Both sides of the situation should be addressed in order to understand the concept better. Artificial insemination is wrongly assumed to be just targeted for infertile pairs. Whereas, it also serves as a platform for individual women who wish to enjoy the blessings of being a parent. This means that this procedure has become relatively popular among lesbian couples who wish to start a family for themselves. However they haven’t gathered support by diverse ethnicities and this further improvisation in their relationships tends to raise a new question and obstacle in their lives which in turn points many fi ngers on single parenthood.   The women interested in becoming a single parent see bright new horizons as the success rate of conceiving artificially is relatively higher than the failure rates. There are two types of artificial insemination, which includes intra-cervical insemination and intra-uterine insemination. These methods are ought to be less incursive as compared to other procedures on artificial fertilization. But since these methods of artificial insemination are largely unstructured or less regulated, they raise a significant amount of health and moral issues. (Araoye, 2003) This process raises moral issues related to the rights of individuals regarding the conditions of their birth. The identity of the donors and recipients are kept confidential. Parents also tend to hide from children about their identity. People who accidently get to know that they were conceived through artificial insemination often undergo agony and distress. That is way it is immoral to hide a pe rson’s birthright from him. Many doctors even do not keep records of the donors’ identity and their medical history because of which they are unable to trace information. Severe health issues also revolve around this artificial method of conception. Diseases such as AIDS, Hepatitis risk the lives of the women and also the child that is supposes to be born with this method. Although it is important to have a complete medical checkup