Wendy McElroy of ifeminists links to this report on a lawsuit from the Chicago Sun-Times:


“Michael Wilford says he was simply a sperm donor.


“Christin Harris says he was much more than that to her.


“Now, the Glenview woman wants him to provide child support and a college fund and pay medical expenses for the 2-year-old twin daughters he fathered….


:”The couple met on Match.com, a dating Web site, and Harris, 45, said she knew then she wanted a child. Wilford, 45, was divorcing and said he didn’t want to be a parent again, but would help her.”


Uh-oh. The whole idea behind sperm donation is that everyone’s supposed to pretend it’s a virgin birth–so that women can be moms but still claim their vaunted “independence” from men. As for what the donor-conceived child might think about the no-daddy arrangement, well, who cares?


What’s funny is that old-fashioned family arrangements–such as fatherhood–will out, despite the best intentions of all the who-needs-men? types. I suspect we’re going to see a lot more imbroglios like the Wilford-Harris one as donor-conceived kids grow up and realize that every single human being has a father somewhere. A real, live male father.