Some women choose to get pregnant with the aid of donated sperm. There are several reasons why a woman may choose to use sperm donation to have a child instead of using a male partner.
Women who use sperm donors do not often worry about the legitimacy of their child. Having the child, not the child’s legal status, is the important thing. There are two other reasons why donated sperm may be used to achieve pregnancy, although the issue of illegitimacy does not factor in one.
If a couple is trying to have a baby and the man has the fertility problems, they may choose to use sperm donation as a way of impregnating the wife. That child will not be illegitimate because the woman’s husband is able to sign the birth certificate. The other reason for using donated sperm is to help lesbian couples with having children. Technically, this counts as illegitimacy.
Society has different views on women who use sperm donors. These women will almost never be using any type of Government aid program, since they are usually financially secure. However, excepting couples where male infertility is an issue, all these children will likely grow up without a father in the home.
Even in a progressive society, it is still generally believed that children who grow up in a stable, two-parent home are better off than children in a single parent home. However, many people also feel that no one should be deprived the ability to start a family, whether or not they are married.
Some people consider single mothers by choice to be selfish, since they are purposely bringing a child into a home with no father. Since financial matters, such as welfare programs or State-funded financial assistance, are not a factor, society’s main issue with single mothers by choice is the obvious lack of a father in the home.
The child’s legitimacy is less important than the fact that there will be no father in the child’s life at all, nor will they ever know their real father. Usually, women who decide to conceive using a sperm donation are well prepared.
In the case of lesbian couples, the views vary depending on an individual’s personal beliefs on the subject. Once again, it is usually not the illegitimacy factor that is important to individual’s in this case. An individual’s feelings about this situation relates to their beliefs on homosexuality.
The women who choose to make use of sperm donors to have children are still sometimes discriminated against by society, although the reasons are generally different from the discrimination faced by other unwed mothers.
