Is man right to donate sperm (to his son) so he can have a 'grandchild'?

[AB Asks]

A 72 year old man has apparently become a sperm donor for his own 'grandchild'. The man's son wants to have a child and between them they have decided that his dad would be the best sperm donor. This would result in a baby being the grandfather's genetic son and its father's half brother. What do you think of the couple's decision? Is it right for a father to donate sperm to help his own son have children?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7030267.stm

[WaldoMcFroog]

Where's the problem? If the woman had left her present partner and taken up with the father, it would be entirely legal (albeit a relationship that would probably get a few gossips' tongues wagging).

There's no brother who would have both the father and mother's DNA, so why not? If a brother had donated sperm, no one would have blinked.

[IggyB]

can't see a problem here myself -the benefits include the resulting child still sharing DNA with both parents and thus looking similar, no later worries for the child regarding who "where they came from" their family is still their family just in an interesting form, and i think its great that the father will still have DNA ties with his child, thew inclusion of all the family clearly means they are a close and supportive family group and this would surely be a plus side for bring up any child.

all in all i'm suprised this doesn't happen more often

[chicklin]

I can't see a problem here either.....

[VillageVicar]

If this family sat down with me to discuss this idea, I would be extremely supportive. Yet I would caution them from letting any of this leak to 'friends' or distant relatives, at the risk of it becoming a media circus. It's a private matter among the family and it should remain just that. Private.

Fr Bill

[Loosehead]

Well no problem as long as Grandpa doesn't donate it directly I suppose!

[China Doll]

I'm not entirely comfortable with it. And before I get shot down I wouldn't be comfortable with it if it was a brother,sister or indeed surrogate pregnancy.

However this rises largely from my own belief that there are so many children out there in need of a good home who have had awful lives and I've always thought that if it ever came to that I'd rather give one of them a loving and stable home than go through hoops just so I could have a baby myself.

That said.. I've never been in this position and should I ever find myself in such a position I hope I have the courage of my current convictions.

As it is, I don't think the man/family in question should be turned in to some sort of freak show just because they want to be happy.

[Reverandfunk]

Sounds a bit pervy to me.

Im a big believer in that things happen for a reason, namely if you cant have kids for a medical reason then dont have them or if you decide that you must have a child in your life (another thing I dont understand lol) then why not adopt?

[alijangra]

Myself and my partner have discussed what we would do in the event that one of us was infertile and we decided we would opt for adoption, mainly because if just one of us was the true biological parent then there would always be an imbalance in the family. I dont like sperm donation for that reason alone. The above situation is a bit strange but at least the 'father' would have some blood connection to the child.