I feel like mentioning that for men sperm donation is something they can consider (and for women, egg donation is something they can consider!). It is of course very different from having “your own” child, but there is also overlap.
Sperm donation can sometimes happen via clinic, while at other sperm donors and donor recipients can match via platforms such as Just A Baby, co-parentmatch.com and prideangel.com (there are additional platforms beyond this, and there are also groups on Facebook). People seeking donors include lesbian couples, couples where the man is infertile, and single women (and sometimes trans-men).
There are pros and cons to different ways of doing things. People seeking donations can save a lot of money by not paying a clinic, and they can make a more informed choice about who they choose as donor by speaking to him directly. Some donor-recipients prefer there to be little or no contact with the donor after pregnancy, while others prefer for there to be a possibility of keeping in touch. Some think it can be good for the child to be able to know his/her donor, and have some level of contact (e.g. visiting once in a while).
For people who want to learn more, there is a podcast named Sperm Donation Word.
If you google news stories with the phrase “sperm donor shortage”, many stories will come up (and not just from 2022 - stories like these just keep coming). To me this is an almost comically salient example of how humans are mesa optimizers from the perspective of natural selection..
I feel like mentioning that for men sperm donation is something they can consider (and for women, egg donation is something they can consider!). It is of course very different from having “your own” child, but there is also overlap.
Sperm donation can sometimes happen via clinic, while at other sperm donors and donor recipients can match via platforms such as Just A Baby, co-parentmatch.com and prideangel.com (there are additional platforms beyond this, and there are also groups on Facebook). People seeking donors include lesbian couples, couples where the man is infertile, and single women (and sometimes trans-men).
There are pros and cons to different ways of doing things. People seeking donations can save a lot of money by not paying a clinic, and they can make a more informed choice about who they choose as donor by speaking to him directly. Some donor-recipients prefer there to be little or no contact with the donor after pregnancy, while others prefer for there to be a possibility of keeping in touch. Some think it can be good for the child to be able to know his/her donor, and have some level of contact (e.g. visiting once in a while).
For people who want to learn more, there is a podcast named Sperm Donation Word.
If you google news stories with the phrase “sperm donor shortage”, many stories will come up (and not just from 2022 - stories like these just keep coming). To me this is an almost comically salient example of how humans are mesa optimizers from the perspective of natural selection..