It is 8 years since I wrote the Blog “Daddy is a Donor” where a middle-aged man living in a caravan with 4 dogs was about to discover he had spawned six kids! Of course it was in California so we did not pay much attention! Fast forward to today when, with great haste, we are about to enact the Children and Family Relationships Bill with its 172 sections.
So what does it do for sperm donors? It decrees that a donor is not the parent of the child born as a result of that procedure and therefore has no parental rights and duties. So he takes his money and walks away.
What of the child born to him? The Bill says that he or she can only access information about Dad after their 18th birthday and then only if it does not affect the ‘wellbeing or safety’ of the donor!
So much for Dad but what about Mum? It also permits surrogacy allowing someone in the Third World (or elsewhere) to be sourced as a carrier for the appropriate fee but is prevented from having any ongoing input into the life she bore. Thus having dealt with the provision of children with no strings attached the ground is being cleared for the introduction of the next Bill – the Same-sex marriage – which, of course needs these laws to provide the ‘same-sexers’ with kids.
It really is an adult’s world where kids are commodities.
If you want to see what it looks like tune into ‘The Kids of Donor 5114’ on Utube where Nathan learns that he has 18 other – siblings meeting some of them first on Facebook. The kids take the lead in tracing their roots. Also they have a yearning to know the donor who, if our current legislation goes through, can thwart their desires.
Like some adults in modern Ireland Jesus’s Disciples saw children as a distraction. In the Gospel passage dealing with family affairs where he reminded them that marriage is between male and female in an enduring covenant relationship, he took them to task over their attitude to children(St Mark Chapter 10 verses 6/9 & 13/15).
The children in question had been brought to Jesus by their Mothers for a blessing on their lives. The Disciples thought they were not important enough to bother their Master and tried to get rid of them.
Jesus turned the incident into a teaching opportunity and in the same Gospel passage in which he commends celibacy he indicated the primacy of coming to him for salvation, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (St Matthew Chapter 19 verses 11 & 12 & 14).
The government are going hell-bent to create a new breed of Irish families. They may achieve this but they need to consider well before enacting laws which run counter to God’s word.