Calgary fertility center: No mixing races.

[ZenOps]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/07...tch-ethnicity/

Really? You mean all this time I've never had a frozen wriggler knock up a white or black girl?

Just goes to prove that noone knows all the rules.

[blitz]

I can understand the rational. I think "Designer babies" is a correct term.

Some other point in the article:

"Interracial couples treated at the clinic have the option of using donors that are ethnically similar to either one of the partners, he added, noting most patients want their children to resemble them."


"Greene said the clinic’s policy follows similar guidelines used with in-province adoption and foster care, where children are placed with families of their same cultural background whenever possible."


"The Alberta Human Rights Commission upheld the policy after a white couple brought a complaint against the clinic about five years ago, Greene said.

They were not infertile but had hoped to use non-Caucasian sperm. “Our psychologist evaluated them and really didn’t see why a couple that is not infertile should be choosing sperm donors they have no cultural relationship with.”

[frizzlefry]

Completely agree with the policy. I think its more racist to go in there and demand a certain race for your donor.

The clinic helps you have a baby because you can't on your own. If you could have a baby it would look like you.

The complainant saying that this policy leads to sperm donors being used more than once is laughable. All donors are used more than once, even the non-white ones.

If she wants special sperm thats all her own she should find a guy willing to give it to her.

[ZenOps]

Thing is, the guy might be dead. 26 years is the maximum shelf life for sperm so far.

Isn't the whole point of having a baby, to have it with the attributes that you prefer, or have personally strived to achieve all your life? Arguably, it will get half of your looks and half of whoever is chosen. IE: You don't choose to live a lifetime eating vanilla cake if you really prefer chocolate.

I don't even think it came down to looks for this woman, it came down to ability (usually things like high strength, intelligence, etc.)

IE: A lot of people would desperately like to not have a child that is aggressively outspoken (IE: The bratty kid) Which means that Keneddy genes are probably frowned upon. Would they prefer Dalai Lama (Gyatso) genes in that case? Probably. But of course, that guy is asian - which is a no go for the white ladies.

[jaeden]

Really they should just mix up the donated sperm from several men, that way its fairly random as to which of the united colours of benetton you get

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Maxt]

There's probably a mandingo party app for that.

[bignerd]

Don't see the big deal. It is a private clinic, their services are NOT covered by AHC. They can do what they want, if you don't like their policy, go somewhere else.

[ZenOps]

But. Its not like its an "extra cost" type of thing.

I can understand a private clinic charging more or changing requirements for better service, better doctors, better anything. Its just the difference between grabbing one testtube or another.

Maybe it shouldn't be private at all? If you are the only barber in city, and you only do men (as many barbers do) what are the ladies going to do, cut their own hair?

Sort of like money banking, you have to make it accessable to all - or its a rigged game. Many clinics tend to use the sperm of their doctors, what up with that? Genetic diversity probably dies off pretty quickly like that.

[Tik-Tok]

Catherine said there are many reasons. By the time she narrowed down her pool of potential donors to those who met Canadian standards, had a good health history and a compatible blood type, she was left with only 20 or so Caucasian candidates to choose from. Many of them had already been used by several other patients in Calgary.

Well, yeah, I mean how dare they ask her to choose a perfectly viable donor sperm, when someone else already has used some. How is the child supposed to be hipster enough if they aren't completely unique?

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by bignerd
Don't see the big deal. It is a private clinic, their services are NOT covered by AHC. They can do what they want, if you don't like their policy, go somewhere else.

Nailed it.

NO private company should be forced to conform to someone else's dogma.

[nzwasp]

I think the controversy is more over the way Dr Greene said it, if he had just said this is our policy and we are conforming to the alberta policy set way back in the day, as do adoption agencies then there would be no issues or problems over it.

From going through the fertility clinic and having him as our Dr Greene I can absolutely see him saying this rather bluntly as thats how he says everything.

[lint]

Originally posted by Seth1968
Nailed it.

NO private company should be forced to conform to someone else's dogma.

so it should be perfectly acceptable that a restaurant serve only whites? or bars that only let in Asians?

[ZenOps]

On a side note: Races tend to be elitist within races as well.

Looks like the Germany to Canada Free trade agreement is dead. They couldn't come to common ground. Canada thinks that we are superior because of our resources, and Germany thinks the same of their automated manufacturing. That and noone want to ever be sued by the other side for spilling hot coffee on the others lap (impossible in this day and age)

What attribute is better? Aren't they both good? Can't we just get along and agree to have multiple attributes being considered worthy?

Can't we just get along?

[GTS4tw]

Originally posted by lint


so it should be perfectly acceptable that a restaurant serve only whites? or bars that only let in Asians?

Yes....just don't eat there if you don't like it. People should be able to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't negatively impact others. Being barred from a racist's restaurant hardly seems like a hardship to me. He will still be racist if he is forced to serve you, but now you are eating his food.....

[frizzlefry]

Originally posted by lint


so it should be perfectly acceptable that a restaurant serve only whites? or bars that only let in Asians?

Your comparison is off. Better one would be that a restaurant accepts all customers but you can't insist on a certain race for your waiter. That makes the customer the racist.

If the lady in the article had an asian husband they would let her use from either the white or asian pool of sperm. Again, this clinic helps people have children when they cannot naturally. She is a single white female so, if she could self conceive she would have a white baby. Thats what they are doing for her.

Completely agree with idea that this policy prevents designer babies.

Of course, if she really wants a baby she could adopt. There are lots of kids that already exist that need homes. Possibly spending what could be the university tuition for a kid that already exists in order to force mother nature to make you another one seems silly to me.

No offense intended to those who have used that clinic but it just seems selfish to me. Especially if the woman is single.

*edit* of course if there is a couple who just need a little help to have their own kids i'm totally ok with it. But there are a lot of people who literally spend hundreds of thousand dollars to have their own. At that point adoption would be the best choice IMO.

[max_boost]

What's the big deal? So that'll be interesting to find out you have some half family members out there. Mixed race any asian/white combo make the best looking kids. halfer girls omg lol

[abyss]

This drives me nuts, on so many levels.

It's okay to have as many "rainbow" kids as you like, but ONLY if you can create them yourselves. Need any help from one of the only TWO clinics in ALL of AB, too fucking bad. It's a-okay to discriminate against almost 17% of the population (yup, 1 in 6 couples suffers from infertility) for whatever reason we choose, because if you don't like it you can just "go somewhere else" p.s. it's not that easy for a lot of people. It's super hard to get the timing and protocols right when the clinic is in your fucking backyard. Now imagine taking 2 weeks off of work every couple months and flying to another province just because your clinic is full of people that don't think you should get any say in the creation of your own child, even though you're PAYING them for that EXACT service. Oh, and stress affects your cycle, good luck with all that stress and having a positive outcome at all.

The reason she wants to consider how many people have used this donor, is because she doesn't want her future children having disabled infertile children with their half siblings. TOTALLY a legitimate concern, there's a shrinking pool of available donors in Canada and a growing percentage of people needing to use them. http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/...753/story.html
How many out of those 51 guys do you think are a attribute match for what a parent is looking for never mind also being a race match for a patient?

Frizzlefry - ever tried to adopt? It's not that easy. And it's not that cheap either. There's not that many babies out there waiting to be adopted (contrary to what most people think) and the ones who are, well, birth mom gets to pick who gets the child, and single parents tend to fall pretty low down on the list of desirable attributes to have as a potential adoptive parent. Oh, and you might be able to adopt internationally (a small handful of countries IN THE ENTIRE WORLD will let single parents adopt) but it's about $20000 a shot, and there's no guarantee the program won't go bankrupt before you get to the top of the over 2 year long waiting list. Bye bye money, bye bye child.

ALL of my (rather subpar) "treatment" at the Regional Fertility Clinic was covered by AHC, it's not a completely private facility by any means.

[frizzlefry]

Originally posted by abyss
Now imagine taking 2 weeks off of work every couple months and flying to another province just because your clinic is full of people that don't think you should get any say in the creation of your own child, even though you're PAYING them for that EXACT service. Oh, and stress affects your cycle, good luck with all that stress and having a positive outcome at all.

The reason she wants to consider how many people have used this donor, is because she doesn't want her future children having disabled infertile children with their half siblings. TOTALLY a legitimate concern, there's a shrinking pool of available donors in Canada and a growing percentage of people needing to use them. http://www.calgaryherald.com/health...7753/story.html
How many out of those 51 guys do you think are a attribute match for what a parent is looking for never mind also being a race match for a patient?

I do empathize with your plight but the key word you used, in caps, was PAYING. There is a shrinking pool of donors. Because the tissue has to be brought in from the states. Because Canada has a VERY good law that says people cannot pay for human tissue. Allowing that would solve the root issue but would also legalize the trade of human flesh for profit. So no wonder its difficult.

Not being able to bear your own children is unfortunate. And I don't pretend for one second to be in the position to fully understand or judge any actions stemming from it. But, at no time, should genetic material be for sale in a civilized world (which is the only solution to your problem really). And the fertility clinics need to work within that moral obligation and their rules must reflect that.

[abyss]

I just don't understand the point of further race restriction when there's already such an infinitesimally small amount of donors to choose from?