Is it right that autistic men can't donate sperm?

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Fnord
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25 Nov 2014, 9:21 am

Janissy wrote:

Fnord wrote:

First, it's a law in the Netherlands. Is Asperger's Syndrome really classified as an 'Illness' there?

I googled around and could only find a law in the Netherlands pertaining to anonymity. It has recently become law that sperm donation centers can only accept non-anonymous donors. This has led to a drop in donations which has led to a shortage that has driven women to seek men off the internet- the situation that is described in the article. Because the internet makes anonymity still possible, the women didn't know the man they got sperm from had Aspergers. They were angry when they found out.

There may be a law against autistic men donating sperm to clinics in the Netherlands but I couldn't find one through google- only this new law against donating anonymously.

What is actually happening (in the article) isn't that autistic men aren't allowed to donate sperm (this guy did just that) but rather that many women don't want sperm from a man who is autistic. That is their choice. But it isn't a law (that I could find).

So, not only would the science behind such a law be flawed, but the law itself may not even exist!

Score another round for the Daily Mail and its "Scandal First, Truth Second" business model!

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YippySkippy
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25 Nov 2014, 10:18 am

Aren't most (all?) sperm banks privately owned? In other words, can't they make up any rules they like? I have heard some of them also reject red-haired men, because the sperm just sits around and no one uses it.

thomas81
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25 Nov 2014, 3:40 pm

Jono wrote:

thomas81 wrote:

I just found out that you can't donate sperm if you have autism. Do you think this is right?

I personally don't because it perpetuates the social stigma and ignorance that autism is necessarilly an 'affliction'.

The problem is that autism can be genetically inherited and if the donor has Asperger's, there's no guarantee that the children resulting from that will only have mild or high-functioning autism either. Most women going to sperm banks most probably don't want to have children with autism or any child with special needs, so the sperm bank would likely reject the donation because nobody would want it. Additionally, I wouldn't really want the sperm donation to result in some people having autistic children when they can't cope with children with special. If people are going to have autistic children, then I would much rather it be to parents who able to cater to them.

the point is i think there is a more fundamental question at stake here about how autism is percieved in mainstream culture. Its mostly negative which to me, is quite unjust. Autism is made to be a 'dirty word' among prospective parents and its mention invokes all sorts of horror stories. Now imagine if doctors instead of saying rather than your child will have 'severe social problems' they said theres 'an increased chance your child will have the analytical abililties of nikola tesla or creative funtionality of andy warhol' then how do you think parents will react?

it would be an interesting scenario if a sterile autistic couple came to one of these centres with a general negativity against the prospect of having an NT child. How would they deal with them i wonder?

Even if autism is hereditary, so what? Its not an affliction. Its part of the tapestry of human diversity. No more, no less. This cultural device that it should be seen as an affliction is based on blind ignorance. What is more there is no guarantee that two NT parents concieving naturally would produce a child not on the spectrum anyway.

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Janissy
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25 Nov 2014, 4:06 pm

thomas81 wrote:

it would be an interesting scenario if a sterile autistic couple came to one of these centres with a general negativity against the prospect of having an NT child. How would they deal with them i wonder?

Probably by saying "sorry, we can't help you". If this scenario came up multiple times, they would likely start "stocking" (for lack of a better word) the sperm of autistic men.

Quote:

Even if autism is hereditary, so what? Its not an affliction. Its part of the tapestry of human diversity. No more, no less. This cultural device that it should be seen as an affliction is based on blind ignorance. What is more there is no guarantee that two NT parents concieving naturally would produce a child not on the spectrum anyway.

Red hair also isn't an affliction but as Yippy Skippy noted, red heads get turned away from donating sperm.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/1 ... 69986.html

Quote:

Cryos International sperm bank has started to turn down redheaded applicants because of a lack of demand, The Telegraph reports.

I think you aren't getting that the sperm donor centers are making business decisions. They aren't doing social engineering. They are selling the sperm that people ask for. And if people never ask for a certain trait or actively ask to not have it, then it is a sound business decision for the center to not use donations from men with that trait. The center takes on the cost of storing the sperm (a cost that is presumably passed on to the recipients who ultimately use it) and it would make no business sense for them to store sperm that nobody will ask for. If people do start asking for it (as in your hypothetical), they will start storing it.

Jacoby
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25 Nov 2014, 4:15 pm

I don't really understand what these sperm banks or what donating is for, it's just for like IVF right? So somebody has to want it, I don't think it is wrong want for them to restrict it. My life is hard and not as fulfilling as it could or should be, having your own child is one thing but I wouldn't want to put that on some random child and their family.

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25 Nov 2014, 6:29 pm

The_Walrus wrote:

thomas81 wrote:

I hate linking to the Daily Mail,

Then use something like donotlink to share the article without boosting their search engine rankings.

Most sensible forums make posted links rel="no-follow" anyway, so in that case not necessary. Otherwise you are a spam magnet.

*edit* this forum isn't hmm not good.

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25 Nov 2014, 11:06 pm

Janissy wrote:

There may be a law against autistic men donating sperm to clinics in the Netherlands but I couldn't find one through google- only this new law against donating anonymously.

What is actually happening (in the article) isn't that autistic men aren't allowed to donate sperm (this guy did just that) but rather that many women don't want sperm from a man who is autistic. That is their choice. But it isn't a law (that I could find).

I did some search to, but focused on Dutch language sites. And I found mainly references to cases where sperm banks lied about the source of the sperm and giving clients sperm from a different source then wanted. For the rest only regulations against accepting donations from people with hereditary sicknesses, but no specifics. So I can not verify if people on the spectrum can be rejected to.

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27 Nov 2014, 6:05 am

trollcatman
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27 Nov 2014, 6:56 am

If they ask about autism on the application, why don't people just lie on their application like they do all the time?

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27 Nov 2014, 8:00 am

Dillogic wrote:

I'd assume that any mental disorder is grounds for disqualification.

Makes sense.

In what way does that make sense?...it is not like mental disorders are automatically passed on. Though some can have genetic factors.

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Sweetleaf
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27 Nov 2014, 8:02 am

LoveNotHate wrote:

One autism doctor, a psychologist, once told me that two AS adults may have a lower fuctioning child. He advises his ASD patients never to have children with other ASD people.

So, there may be a legitimate purpose to screening for an ASD.

Two neurotypical adults can also have a lower functioning child on the spectrum.

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Jono
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27 Nov 2014, 8:15 am

Sweetleaf wrote:

LoveNotHate wrote:

Two neurotypical adults can also have a lower functioning child on the spectrum.

They can but then there's usually someone else in the family who's on the spectrum. Then the parents may carry the genes that are risk factors or associated with ASD but do not have ASD themselves.

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27 Nov 2014, 8:19 am

Jono wrote:

They can but then there's usually someone else in the family who's on the spectrum. Then the parents may carry the genes that are risk factors or associated with ASD but do not have ASD themselves.

No one else in my family has ASD, yet I exist, I assume to people with autism could probably produce a child without it as well. Perhaps it would be more likely the child would have ASD but certainly would not be set in stone per say.

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AspieOtaku
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29 Nov 2014, 3:51 pm

Ill just lie on my application and cash out on my baby batter! It makes little difference on the chances being born with asd or not.

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LoveforLoki
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29 Nov 2014, 3:53 pm

YippySkippy wrote:

That's crazy! I love red hair!

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Janissy
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29 Nov 2014, 5:57 pm

LoveforLoki wrote:

YippySkippy wrote:

That's crazy! I love red hair!

Indeed. But do you love it enough to buy sperm to make a redheaded baby? Apparently there are so few people willing to pay for that it becomes a liability rather than an asset in the sperm bank. This is all about what people will pay for. Sperm banks are selling sperm. If they don't have buyers for a particular type, it is against their interests to keep that type "in stock" because they are the ones who have to pay to keep it stored.

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