The American tabloid media was abuzz this week with news that a New York Mathematics Professor had fathered 22 children through informal sperm donation.

The American tabloid media was abuzz this week with news that a New York mathematics lecturer had fathered 22 children through informal sperm donation.

Ari Nagel, a 42-year-old Kingsborough Community College academic, proudly told the New York Post about his exploits – including details of how he donates sperm in public toilets to desperate women who contact him over the internet.

Nagel said he finds satisfaction in helping families realise their dream of having children. “I get a lot of joy from seeing so many happy families that I was able to play a role in creating”, he told reporters.

Nagel says he sometimes fathers children by donating at fertility clinics, though others are conceived through informal sperm donation or intercourse.

Subsequent to his interview with the New York Post, papers revealed that Nagel himself is married with three kids. When questioned by the media Nagel’s wife said she was “livid”. Nagel was sued successful for child support by the mothers of the first five children he fathered.

In an interview with Slate, Gregory Zapantis, medical director of New York Reproductive Wellness, a fertility clinic, said that Nagel’s actions raise a host of medical, ethical and legal concerns:

“From a professional standpoint, I was appalled,” Zapantis said of his first reaction to the Post story. “Something like donor sperm is a complex process that requires considering social issues, ethical issues, and legal issues, and it seems like all of those things have not really been thought through carefully. In fact, it was approached in a very blasé and egotistical manner.”

The ‘joy’ of fathering 22 donor kids
Xavier Symons
https://www.bioedge.org/images/2008images/TH_sperm_donora.jpg
Creative commons
https://www.bioedge.org/images/2008images/TH_sperm_donora.jpg
art
sperm donation
us

• Author
• Recent Posts

Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a bioethicist and scholar in residence at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University.

Latest posts by Xavier Symons (see all)

• Can machines be moral? - March 7, 2021
• Can we synthesise Christianity moral theology with secular bioethics? - November 28, 2020
• Euthanasia polling data may fail to capture people’s considered views - August 15, 2020