dyer@vaxuum.DEC (On foot...again *sigh* .) (04/15/85)
Donor Insemination______________________________________________________________
I recently had a very strange dream about two lesbian friends of mine
deciding to have a baby through Donor Insemination (DI). It was a funny dream
wherein the donor had a condom with little graduation markings on it showing
how many milliliters of semen were collected...
Anyways, the dream got me thinking about DI in general, so I did a
little research on it out of curiosity. I got bits and pieces about it from
all over, but everything I found out was summarized very well in _The_New_Our_
_Bodies,_Ourselves_.
I figured I'd share it with y'all, since it's easy to do but not without
complications.
*** NOTE: Some of the following is a bit sexually explicit! ***
DI is the only low-tech available-to-anybody way for single women and
lesbian couples to have children. It's so simple anybody can do it at home,
and since the trend seems to be towards limiting reproductive technologies to
married couples with money, I'll describe the basic facts here as a public
service.
For heterosexual women who don't want the donor to be anonymous and who
can stand to be intimate with the donor, there's always the - um - traditional
method. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can rent _The_Big_Chill_
at a VCR place...)
For everyone else, the procedure is almost as simple. The donor, who is
of course male, supplies the sperm. To do this he must ejaculate. This he can
do by masturbating or, if preferred, with the encouragement (hee hee) of his own
partner. Whatever.
He should ejaculate into some kind of receptacle. A condom will do
fine, as long as it doesn't have some kind of spermicide in it! A jar will also
do, but make sure it's clean and sterile: Put it in boiling water then let it
cool (or you'll fry the little spermies).
The sooner the sperm gets into the woman, the better. It must be done
within an hour after ejaculation.
For the woman's comfort she should be lubricated. For good karma, it
would be nice if this could be achieved by her sexual arousal. (I didn't read
this anywhere, it's just my opinion...) Again, she can do this by masturbating
or with the help of a lover.
She should then lie on her back with her rear end raised - like up on a
pillow. The semen can then be sucked up into a needleless hypodermic syringe
or an eyedropper or a turkey baster (the last two are cheaper and less conspic-
uous when you go shopping, but you should make sure they're clean).
Gently insert the syringe or eyedropper or turkey baster into the vagina
and empty it, depositing the semen close to the cervix. The woman should remain
lying on her back for half an hour so the stuff doesn't leak out.
These instructions, like the instructions on a shampoo bottle, end with
the word "repeat". You should do this two or three times (or more, I suppose)
during and after ovulation.
Nine months later, shazam! Babies!!! (Well, that part isn't guaran-
teed...it might take several tries. It should work, evenutally, if both donor
and recipient are fertile.)
That part's easy. But like I said, there can be complications:
The biggest question is whether you want the donor to be anonymous or
not. Here's what they say in _The_New_Our_Bodies,_Ourselves_ (quoted without
permission):
Mutual anonymity between you and the man who donates the
sperm may be important for both of you, and can forestall
legal and emotional complications. Problems have arisen when
a man who gave his sperm had a change of feelings later and
sued for visitation or wanted to give the child his surname.
Single and lesbian women especially have to guard against this
kind of harassment. The sperm donor, too, may need protect-
ion, because a court may later assert a donor's responsibility
for child support. [You should be aware of how the laws on
DI operate in your state.]
There are also arguments against anonymity. Many unmarried
women, both heterosexual and lesbian, want the donor to be a
friend who will possibly be involved in the child's life. Also,
just as adopted children are making increasing efforts to locate
their biological parents, some children conceived by DI may be
disturbed and angry if they cannot find out who their biological
fathers are. Also, health problems may arise that may make us
or our children want to have access to the biological father's
medical history. [I might also add that anonymous donors aren't
easy to find without a good friend or some kind of institution;
so make sure that the friend or institution screens donors well
- you don't want to catch a disease and you may wish to avoid
having your child inherit health problems.]
I hope I haven't offended anyone with this article. It's just that I'm
not too thrilled with the way reproductive technologies are being controlled by
the powers-that-be, and I'm not too thrilled with the way the powers-that-be
are prohibiting reproductive technologies from single women and lesbian couples
who want children. There are actually clinics that restrict DI to married coup-
les! (There are also feminist clinics that don't.)
But this stuff is so low-tech that anyone can do it, so here it is!
Spread this info around. Maybe it will fall into the hands of somebody who
needs to know it!
<_Jym_>
P.S.: If you need help picking out names, drop me a line. Maybe I could code
up a random name generator (-:)...
:::::::::::::::: Jym Dyer
::::' :: `:::: Dracut, Massachusetts
::' :: `::
:: :: :: DYER%VAXUUM.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
:: .::::. :: {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer
::..:' :: `:..::
::::. :: .:::: Statements made in this article are my own; they might not
:::::::::::::::: reflect the views of |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| Equipment Corporation.wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (04/17/85)
Do you feel better Jim? With all of the TEE HEEs and snickers, I can assume that you really got your jollies posting this bit of trivia to the kids group. You must assume that everyone out here is stupid or something. I would like to suggest that this kind of nonsense remain in net.MOTSS. Especially since it appears to have been written from the perspective of an 11 year old. T. C. Wheeler
sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) (04/19/85)
> The sooner the sperm gets into the woman, the better. It must be done >........ > or with the help of a lover. > She should then lie on her back with her rear end raised - like up on a > pillow. The semen can then be sucked up into a needleless hypodermic syringe > or an eyedropper or a turkey baster (the last two are cheaper and less conspic- > uous when you go shopping, but you should make sure they're clean). > Gently insert the syringe or eyedropper or turkey baster into the vagina > and empty it, depositing the semen close to the cervix. The woman should remain One practical solution to the problem of leaks is to use a diaphragm to keep the sperm in close to the cervix. -- Sophie Quigley {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|linus|watmath}!utzoo!mnetor!sophie
chu@lasspvax.UUCP (Clare Chu) (04/20/85)
This message is empty.
dyer@vaxuum.DEC (In alphabetical order...) (04/22/85)
Re: Donor Insemination__________________________________________________________ > Do you feel better Jim [sic]? With all of the TEE HEEs and snickers, I can > assume that you really got your jollies posting this bit of trivia to the > kids group. *What* tee hees and snickers? I didn't make any tee hees or snickers. Trivia? Trivia is defined as "insignificant information"; what I posted was far from insignificant, it was a means for single women and lesbian couples to have children in a society whose institutions won't recognize their rights to do so. Did I get my jollies doing it? Yes, I enjoy sharing low-technology in- formation. Even more, I enjoyed receiving thank-yous from women all over the country, including a number who tell me they've used the information. (By the way, I love the way you put it: "the kids group" - it sounds like there are kids running around the group whose minds will be corrupted by the mention of semen.) > You must assume that everyone out here is stupid or something. Why? Because I'm telling them how to have babies? Did *you* know that the semen would have to be transferred within an hour? That the woman should lay on her back with her hips raised for an hour or so after insemination? I'll bet you didn't, but that doesn't mean I think you're stupid. It means the technology wasn't made available to you. Until now, that is. > I would like to suggest that this kind of nonsense remain in net.MOTSS [sic]. > Especially since it appears to have been written from the perspective of an > 11 year old. I posted it to net.kids, net.motss (watch your case-sensitivity there), and net.women because it has to do with single women (net.women) or lesbian couples (net.motss) who want children (net.kids). And please explain three things for me: (1) why does this appear to be written "from the perspective of an 11 year old"; (2) what does "the perspective of an 11 year old" have to do with net.motss; and (3) why shouldn't what you call "the kids group" *not* have something in it "from the perspective of an 11 year old" (-:)? <_Jym_> :::::::::::::::: Jym Dyer ::::' :: `:::: Dracut, Massachusetts ::' :: `:: :: :: :: DYER%VAXUUM.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA :: .::::. :: {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer ::..:' :: `:..:: ::::. :: .:::: Statements made in this article are my own; they might not :::::::::::::::: reflect the views of |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| Equipment Corporation.