Women can now choose sperm donors by race, education and eye colour on a new app – described by a pro-life campaigner as the “denigration of fatherhood”.
The London Sperm Bank likened its new product to every other purchase which is done online, saying it offers women total control in choosing a sperm donor.
But Josephine Quintavalle, a medical ethicist, described the move as a further step in the “trivialisation of parenthood”.
Wish list
The app, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, is legal in the UK and meets requirements of the fertilisation watchdog.
Users can select donors according to various characteristics including race, skin tone, height, weight and education.
They can set up a “wish list”, and sign up for alerts and view “new arrivals”.
Digital dads
Quintavalle, of the Comment on Reproductive Ethics group, described the app as “reproduction via the mobile phone”, “digital dads” and the “ultimate denigration of fatherhood”.
Dr Kamal Ahuja, Scientific Director of the London Sperm Bank, sought to defend the product: “You make all the transactions online, like you do anything else these days.”
