On its face, this lawsuit makes sense. A couple went to a sperm bank and signed a
contract to have sperm number X inseminated.
The sperm bank gave them the wrong sample. The woman got pregnant on the wrong
sample. Clear case of contract
violation.
But then it gets messy.
The sperm was from an African American donor and the baby has dark
colored skin. The couple lives in the
South. They asked for higher damages in
the lawsuit because of the additional challenges that raising a dark-skin-colored
child in the South will entail. While it
may be true that there are added challenges, I have to agree with Art Caplan,
Director of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center. In his Everyday Ethics podcast, he makes a
clear case that this is not OK.
For one, using the baby’s race as a factor in the damage
calculation is racist. Second, imagine
what the child will think in the coming years when she finds out that her
parent’s sued because of her identity.
They might have been able to smooth over a contract violation as based
on just the principle. But now, they can’t.
