UK's largest sperm bank caught trying to practice eugenics

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ASPartOfMe
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30 Dec 2015, 12:08 am

Largest UK sperm bank turns away dyslexic donors - The Guardian

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Britain’s largest sperm bank has been turning away donors with dyslexia in what it describes as attempts to “minimise the risk of transmitting common genetic diseases or malformations to any children born”.


Quote:
A leaflet to donors lists a series of conditions the clinic screens for, including: attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], autism, Asperger syndrome,dyslexia and the motor disorder dyspraxia.


Bolding is mine


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Feyokien
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30 Dec 2015, 12:17 am

Christ they're labeling us as a "neurological disease" now. :pale: Why was I stupid enough to go after a official diagnosis.



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30 Dec 2015, 1:40 am

While not America and Germany the UK has a shameful eugenics history of its own
The eugenics movement Britain wants to forget - New Statesman


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XenoMind
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30 Dec 2015, 3:41 am

From a discussion on Reddit:

Quote:
Completely agree.
How does this even deserve discussing? It's clearly the sensible option


Quote:
They also won't accept donors with a strong family history of cancer.


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That makes sense, these aren't desirable or beneficial traits to have


So we are as bad as cancer now. Brilliant. Just brilliant.



WelcomeToHolland
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30 Dec 2015, 9:14 am

Here's how this works:
1. Women have the right to be aware of who they're reproducing with.
2. Sperm banks must ask for info about the man in order to provide the info to the woman so she can be informed.
3. Sperm banks cost money to operate.
4. In order to maximize efficiency, sperm banks must choose which sperm to keep.
5. It's not efficient to keep autistic sperm when they know nobody will use it if they are informed about it.
6. No man (or person but we're talking about sperm, so man) is entitled to have children with somebody else. So if nobody wants their sperm, it may not be "fair", but they do not get to force people to take their sperm.

I think calling that eugenics is almost lobbying against a woman's right to choose who they reproduce with...which is gross.


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ASPartOfMe
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30 Dec 2015, 9:19 am

XenoMind wrote:
From a discussion on Reddit:

Quote:
Completely agree.
How does this even deserve discussing? It's clearly the sensible option


Quote:
They also won't accept donors with a strong family history of cancer.


Quote:
That makes sense, these aren't desirable or beneficial traits to have


So we are as bad as cancer now. Brilliant. Just brilliant.


Now? Eugenics specifically goes back to the 19th century, the eugenics ideas were always around
Since autism has only been known for only for 80 years, linking Autistics to cancer or more often a cancer like toxic invader that has taken over a cute kid and turned them into a horror movie charactor had to wait until to the first pop psychologist Bruno Bettelheim in the 1960's.


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ASPartOfMe
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30 Dec 2015, 9:40 am

WelcomeToHolland wrote:
Here's how this works:
1. Women have the right to be aware of who they're reproducing with.
2. Sperm banks must ask for info about the man in order to provide the info to the woman so she can be informed.
3. Sperm banks cost money to operate.
4. In order to maximize efficiency, sperm banks must choose which sperm to keep.
5. It's not efficient to keep autistic sperm when they know nobody will use it if they are informed about it.
6. No man (or person but we're talking about sperm, so man) is entitled to have children with somebody else. So if nobody wants their sperm, it may not be "fair", but they do not get to force people to take their sperm.

I think calling that eugenics is almost lobbying against a woman's right to choose who they reproduce with...which is gross.


You might think it is fair eugenics but it is still eugenics. Some people do know in advance they are going to to have a Downs child and choose have them. But since Autism is so much worse then downs NOBODY will chose to take the higher risk thier child will be autistic according to you. It is the Sperm bank that is limiting choice for women in this case. It is the sperm bank that is misrepresenting to women what these conditions are.

Eugenics was always largely about money. People thought of as "useless eaters" were though of as a unwanted burden financially and otherwise, nothing new here.


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XenoMind
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30 Dec 2015, 9:54 am

WelcomeToHolland wrote:
5. It's not efficient to keep autistic sperm when they know nobody will use it if they are informed about it.

Asperger's is not autism, and autism is a very broad spectrum, too. But the most interesting part here is the general attitude of the comments.

PS so much for coming outs and official diagnoses... those high on spectrum are better to keep their mouths shut.



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30 Dec 2015, 10:57 am

I don't have a problem with the sperm bank exclusion criteria. I reproduced with a likely HFA or AS mate, but I didn't know it because he passed well and those were not spoken of at the time. As a result, two AS children. (Yes, some of it came from my side as well.) Honest to gosh, I chose that mate in part because he seemed pretty normal and I hoped that would wash out some of my weird.

Is choosing a mate because you think he would produce healthy and attractive children, as well as help raise them, any different than excluding genetic anomalies at a sperm bank? Yet I think most people do attempt to do the former, to the extent they have a choice in the matter.


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30 Dec 2015, 11:24 am

I wonder if they screen the women they're giving the sperm to as well. Makes a nice double standard if they don't.



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30 Dec 2015, 11:37 am

I doubt that they do - the women (or the doctors of the women) are their customers.

They screen for genetic health in order to market their product to the customers. The point is to have a "quality product," not to produce perfect offspring. It's a business.


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30 Dec 2015, 11:52 am

Get a grip. It's a sperm bank. If we want to have children, we should find ourselves a partner and have them ourselves. You wouldn't want to be responsible for bringing a child with special needs into the world and put them into the hands of parents who don't have what it takes to take care of them, would you? Rather let them have parents that can bring them up properly.



Feyokien
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30 Dec 2015, 11:57 am

BeaArthur wrote:
I doubt that they do - the women (or the doctors of the women) are their customers.

They screen for genetic health in order to market their product to the customers. The point is to have a "quality product," not to produce perfect offspring. It's a business.


Except the genetic proof for Aspergers is pretty weak right now. I never got genetically checked and I've never heard of an actual genetic test for it. I visited a psychologist and he did some subjective non definitive tests. Classic autism doesn't even run in my family. Like you said though, its good advertising. God I love capitalism /sarcasm



helloarchy
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30 Dec 2015, 12:03 pm

If I could choose whether my child had it or not, I would choose without. There is a pattern of hereditary autism/asperger's, although no gene has been identified. So it would surely make sense that those with and ASD don't donate sperm to women who don't want to run the risk.



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30 Dec 2015, 12:35 pm

All you people yelling pro choice unless I am missing something the letter went out to donors not clients.


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30 Dec 2015, 1:02 pm

Sperm banks inherently practice eugenics, the whole point is to be discriminatory so you can "create" the best kid of your choosing. Once they can genetically screen autism, they will start eliminating the "problem".