For families that can’t conceive or single women who want children, Fairfax Cryobank in Fairfax, VA is a veritable shopping mall for their future. Fairfax Cryobank is one of the most successful sperm banks in the country and part of an industry that is under the spotlight as more and more people call upon their ever-increasing genetic technology to shape their families.
For under $500 dollars, customers of the Fairfax Cryobank can pick and choose a vial of sperm based on physical attributes (race, height, weight etc…), personal essay, medical history and photographs from hundreds of donors. Donors with the most desirable traits, logically, are in high demand and some go on to father dozens of children with as many different customers i.e. mothers.
Unlike adopted children seeking out their biological parents, the children of anonymous sperm donors sometimes have dozens of half-siblings they have never met. Like many cases of adoption, however, people are curious about their half-siblings and donor fathers. To help these people find their half-siblings and fathers and for curious fathers to find their offspring Wendy Kramer started the website donorsiblingregistry.com. Now with over 20,500 registered users, donorsiblingregistry.com is taking some of the mystery out of an industry that was once completely anonymous and, in some circles, taboo. Donorsiblingregistry.com lists hundreds of clinics besides Fairfax Cryobank in a number of countries for users to seek information and contact mothers, their offspring and donors.
With ever-evolving genetic technology, potential mothers might soon be able to screen sperm donors for anything from genetic abnormalities to eye-color to left-handedness. As long as the identity of donors remains anonymous, however, families will be curious to find out who makes up the mysterious missing link in their family. Luckily, they have Wendy Kramer and donorsiblingregistry.com.
sources: www.fairfaxcryobank.com, www.donorsiblingregistry.com, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022601095.html, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2006/05/08/wdonor07.xml