What gay couples need to hear about 'donor' conceived children

Most donor conceived children in heterosexual families are lied to by their 'parents' about their situation. Parents like to think that the child's biological connections are unimportant. (They really need to do some serious research.) At least this can't happen in a gay partnership as there is obviously a mother or father somewhere around. Although they may be very far away, as sperm and eggs are freely available - well for a price - on the internet, and anonymity is guaranteed.

There is now a growing 'market' in India for sperm, eggs, and even foetuses from men and women all over the world who must remain anonymous. In one case, documented on Compass a few weeks ago, these are sold to a company run by couple of gay men in Israel, flown to India and then implanted in surrogate mothers, for a fee. These 'mothers' live in dormitories in a clinic run by an Indian doctor who is also paid, until they give birth, sometimes to their own babies. The babies are then collected either by the new 'parents' who have paid a very large fee, or a courier, who delivers them to wherever in the world they will end up. These hapless infants have no way of knowing anything about their genetic background, medical conditions which may run in their families, talents, tendencies, or any of the myriad other things we inherit from our families.

They are mere commodities. And are treated as such.

What on earth have we become, that we can treat the creation of a new human life in such a deeply inhuman, selfish and materialistic manner? Why have we lost our sense of the profound importance of family connections, of our ancestors, our tribe, our own people? Why do we refuse to acknowledge rhe inalienable right of all persons to know who they are and where they come from, and which must override the perceived 'right' of infertile or gay couples?

I have no doubt that some time in the future profuse public apologies will be sadly offered to the countless thousands of people who were so heartlessly disconnected from their own families, the ones whom no one cared about in the misplaced euphoria about reproductive technology: the children.