A sperm bank has introduced a mobile phone app for women to select a sperm donor of their choice to father a child, believed to be the first of its kind.
London Sperm Bank Donors, nicknamed the 'order a daddy' app, allows women to 'browse' potential fathers based on desired characteristics, including physical traits such as height, and skin, hair and eye colour, as well as desired education level or occupation.
Around half of Britain's IVF clinics are understood to have registered to use the service.
Critics say that this app further undermines and trivialises parenthood, making both father and child a commodity.
Online 'transaction'
The app allows women to choose, for example, the level of education they would wish the father to have – from secondary school qualifications to doctorates. Personality descriptions of the 'candidates' are also included in the app.
Women can even set up 'alerts' for when desired characteristics become available.
Dr Kamal Ahuja, scientific director of the London Sperm Bank, said: "You make all the transactions online, like you do anything else these days."
Once the woman has chosen her preferred sperm donor, she makes a payment of £950 via the app, and the sample is delivered to the clinic where the woman is being treated.
The app has been certified by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the IVF regulator.
Step towards eugenics
Christian Concern’s Chief Executive, Andrea Williams, said that this app is another step towards acceptance of eugenics.
"Earlier this year, the UK was given permission to modify single genes in human embryos – crossing a dangerous ethical line which opens the door to consumer eugenics.
"Now, we have this app which actively promotes the selection of physical and mental characteristics in children. Our society is slowly eroding the value of human life from every angle."
'Commodification of children'
Dr Trevor Stammers, Programme Director in Bioethics and Medical law at St Mary's University, Twickenham, spoke to Radio 5, saying this app has "very little to do with what we know that children need".
"I also think it's very misleading… you certainly can't guarantee intelligence, athleticism and all that sort of thing."
He went on: "It's quite clear that [these women] don't want a child, but they want a particular child... they want a Greek god with blue eyes or an Olympian goddess and so on, and if that child doesn't turn out to meet those expectations, then it may well be that the child will not be accepted, and that’s obviously a very worrying thing...".
He continued by emphasising that the child's needs must be made paramount, and women must consider what they will tell the child when he or she is old enough to ask about the sperm donor.
He said that parenting should be about "unconditional love" but that this kind of app promotes the "commodification of children".
'Ultimate denigration of fatherhood'
Josephine Quintavalle, of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said that this further "trivialises parenthood".
"How much further can we go in the trivialisation of parenthood? This is reproduction via the mobile phone. It's digital dads. Choose Daddy. This is the ultimate denigration of fatherhood."
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Sperm bank offers 'order a daddy' app (Times £)
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