First HIV+ Sperm Bank Opens in New Zealand

Following closely on the heels of legislation in California decriminalized intentionally transmitting HIV to a partner without their knowledge, a new clinic has popped up in New Zealand that will allow HIV+ men to donate sperm, which is then donated to fertility clinics, the BBC reports.

Three HIV-positive men have already signed up to donate – all of whom have an undetectable viral load. This means virus levels in their blood are so low that HIV cannot be transmitted through sex or childbirth. Sperm Positive was launched by three charities ahead of World Aids Day on 1 December. Body Positive, the New Zealand Aids Foundation and Positive Women Inc hope the project will educate the public about transmission of HIV, and reduce stigma for those who have the illness.

And everyone knows that the next step after “reducing stigma” is forced celebration. The clinic says that it will inform the recipients of the HIV+ status of the sperm donors…for now. I’m fairly certain that once this becomes a usual thing with activists agitating against “discrimination” against HIV+ sperm, it will be entirely secret whose came from HIV+ men. You wouldn’t want to be “homophobic,” now would you?

Until now, I thought the Catholic catechism was too harsh on prohibiting fertility procedures, like in vitro fertilization. I have now been corrected. It is clear that it was only a matter of time until the industry of making babies went from trying to help parents to “de-stigmatizing” AIDS, babies be damned. Sure, all the pointy heads say it’s perfectly safe and no babies will contract the virus from the HIV+ sperm. Why even take the chance? This is a human being’s life and health, but all anyone cares about are the adults who desire something and will go to any lengths to get it.

Everyone knows there’s a failure rate with every procedure. And what happens if it fails and a baby is created with HIV? We all know the answer to that question. The abortion rate at in vitro clinics is astronomical. Couples don’t just create one embryo but five or six, some of which they selectively abort to get the required number of children wanted. This philosophy is mad. And while I hate to see the suffering of married couples who desperately want babies, there must be a better way than this.

I keep finding the Church is right about everything. Every single thing I’ve really looked at that the Church has prohibited ends up being something terribly dangerous or immoral for you or others. And now we know at least one reason why in vitro and the act of donating sperm or using donated sperm is an appalling idea. Not only does using foreign sperm deny a child the right to his or her biological father but it “entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children.”

I’ll leave you with more beautiful truth from the catechism to help wipe away the staining grime of this story.

A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The “supreme gift of marriage” is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged “right to a child” would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right “to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents,” and “the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception.”¹⁷⁰

The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord’s Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others.