Fatherless Children of IVF

A recent analysis by John Flynn of Zenit.org presents the disturbing reality of the growing number of children without fathers, on purpose. Children conceived by IVF using "donor sperm" are denied the right to grow up with a father and a mother. As Flynn points out, even more disturbing is the notion currently being entertained by policy-makers that perhaps it is not necessary (or at least highly beneficial) for the physical and mental wellbeing of a human person to be conceived and nurtured by a father as well as a mother.

Flynn makes the point that our sympathy is usually focused on the parent struggling with infertility rather than with the child conceived in the sterile petri dish with donor sperm. Careful consideration of both helps to understand why those who condemn IVF and sperm banks are not unsympathetic to infertile persons, but are prioritizing the wellbeing of the human beings who in the end will be called the "products" of a patented process.