White Lesbian Sues Fertility Clinic for Giving Her Sperm from Black Donor

 

The 21st century is exhausting:

A white Ohio mom is suing a sperm bank for sending her vials from a black donor, saying her biracial 2-year-old daughter will be stigmatized by her family and the “intolerant” town where they live and has to travel to get her hair done.

Untangling the grievances here is daunting:

  • Is the woman racist for objecting to a black sperm donor?
  • Is the sperm bank homophobic for providing poor service to a lesbian?
  • Should the town be razed for being racist, homophobic and offering inadequate sperm classification?
  • How exactly are the Koch brothers to blame?

Jennifer Cramblett thought she was being inseminated with a white man’s sperm in 2011 and only discovered after she was pregnant that the Midwest Sperm Bank sent the wrong batch, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

The child, Payton, is now 2 years old and already experiencing prejudice in Uniontown, where 98 percent of the residents are white, court papers say.

Excuse me, but what prejudice does a biracial two-year-old face? Segregated sippy cups? Being sent to the back of the Big Wheel? As an sleep-deprived parent of former two-year-olds, one of the few redeeming features of that age is a complete lack of preexisting biases.

As an example of the difficulties the family faces, the suit cited hair care for the toddler.

This is Selma all over again.

”Getting a young daughter’s hair cut is not particularly stressful for most mothers, but to Jennifer it is not a routine matter, because Payton has hair typical of an African American girl,” the suit says. “To get a decent cut, Jennifer must travel to a black neighborhood, far from where she lives, where she is obviously different in appearance, and not overtly welcome.”

Eek — not a black neighborhood! The struggle is real. And, for the record, getting a two-year-old girl’s hair cut is a harrowing nightmare for every parent. My eardrums are just beginning to heal.

Cramlett’s lawyer, Thomas Intili, told NBC News his client “lives in an all-white community in eastern Ohio. She did not encounter any African-American people until she entered college. Not all her friends and family members are racially sensitive.”

No offense, mom, but it sounds like you’re the one freaking out about race, not your friends or family members — and certainly not your innocent child. No one else in Uniontown is suing over sperm being insufficiently Aryan.

The only person making race an issue is Cramlett. What do you think her child will think when she learns how disappointed mom was over her racial makeup? Not only that she sued over this “mistake,” but that she ran to the national media to publicize her anger over her daughter’s unacceptable melanin count?

Meanwhile, Cramlett’s hometown is bewildered at her allegations of intolerance. John Arnold, a town trustee, says the community accepts everyone. “We have a large Mennonite community and a lot of the members have adopted African-American children and babies from all over the world and those kids have been treated fine,” he said. Speaking of Cramlett and her partner, he adds, “they obviously have a beautiful, healthy 2-year-old.”

This guy sounds like a monster.

In this age of designer babies and in light of the sperm bank’s legitimate error, this ungrateful mom probably has a legal case. But Cramlett’s plan to make money by making her kid feel unloved and calling everyone in her family and community a racist makes her the true culprit in this story.

Image via NBC News.

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  1. otherdeanplace@yahoo.com Member
    otherdeanplace@yahoo.com
    @EustaceCScrubb

    If this suit is successful, could a straight couple sue if they were given sperm with the “gay gene”?

    • #1
  2. user_130720 Member
    user_130720
    @

    “Carry Me Back to Ol’ Virginny”, Loving v.

    • #2
  3. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.: In this age of designer babies and in light of the sperm bank’s legitimate error, this ungrateful mom probably has a case. But Cramlett’s plan to make money by making her kid feel unloved and calling everyone in her family and community a racist makes her the real culprit in this story.

    It’s tricky.

    Should a business not be held liable for failing to provide a service or product as promised if the service or product that was delivered is acceptable to the customer?

    Say you ask for a Coke, and the waiter brings you Pepsi instead.  You take a sip of the Pepsi and decide you kinda like it, but it wasn’t what you asked for.  The waiter has failed to provide the promised service/product.

    Of course, in that analogy you can always send the drink back.  In the case of a human baby, that isn’t an option.

    If we were to say that the fertility clinic cannot be held liable for this sort of mistake, does that not give fertility clinics a disincentive to even try to do the job properly.

    “Warning. Babies may not be exactly as shown in promotional materials.”

    • #3
  4. 1967mustangman Inactive
    1967mustangman
    @1967mustangman

    *Sigh*

    • #4
  5. Julia PA Inactive
    Julia PA
    @JulesPA

    Clearly this baby mama should be able to return the product of the erroneous sperm for a refund, including shipping…That’s what everyone does when the catalog item ordered is inaccurately processed.

    If I could, I’d text the crazy baby mama, and tell her to send me this darling-dollface child post-haste. My immediate family is biracial by marriage twice over, and we accept and adore all shades of melanin. There are plenty of people who would not be inconvenienced or disappointed with this little girl.

    sheesh.

    • #5
  6. 1967mustangman Inactive
    1967mustangman
    @1967mustangman

    So reading this more closely………..it looks like there was a handwriting mistake involved.  Someone wrote down donor number 380 but it was read as donor number 330.  The company needs to change the way they label these vials.  Also, they did refund her the money she spent purchasing the vials.  Beyond that though what do you expect them to do?  What if she had requested a brunette donor and this child was a redhead?  What if the child had Downs Syndrome, MD, or Thalassemia?  You pays your money a you takes your chances seems to be the lesson here.

    • #6
  7. AIG Inactive
    AIG
    @AIG

    Well, certainly the mother has grounds for a suit here. After all, don’t they select the specific sperm donor in these cases? If so, than the wrong donor was given to her. That’s a pretty big screw up.

    As for the rest, its just Lefties being Lefties.

    • #7
  8. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    She could have had a race “guaranty,” had she only been willing to conceive the old-fashioned way…

    Would the doctrines of contributory or comparative negligence apply to her case now, as she obviously was disinclined through her own free will to select that option?

    • #8
  9. Julia PA Inactive
    Julia PA
    @JulesPA

    Misthiocracy: “Warning. Babies may not be exactly as shown in promotional materials.”

    like.

    • #9
  10. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Eustace C. Scrubb:If this suit is successful, could a straight couple sue if they were given sperm with the “gay gene”?

    IMHO, only if the fertility clinic had promised in advance that the sperm being provided would be free of the “gay gene”, which I doubt any fertility clinic would contractually agree to.

    I presume that the contracts customers sign have clauses to the effect that the clinic cannot guarantee the “quality” of the sperm in all sorts of different ways (disease, sex, eye colour, hair colour, etc), but that the contract does not say that the clinic cannot guarantee the race of the sperm’s donor.

    Perhaps future contracts will have that clause added in.

    • #10
  11. Julia PA Inactive
    Julia PA
    @JulesPA

    Fritz: She could have had a race “guaranty,” had she only been willing to conceive the old-fashioned way…

    I wonder if the sperm bank has “liability” insurance? or malpractice insurance?

    Or maybe sperm buyers can purchase a rider that covers instances of product ‘malfunction’?

    • #11
  12. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    Love the opening line, Jon.

    • #12
  13. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    AIG:Well, certainly the mother has grounds for a suit here. After all, don’t they select the specific sperm donor in these cases? If so, than the wrong donor was given to her. That’s a pretty big screw up.

    Ah, but how far should that liability go?  As 1967mustangman points out, the clinic refunded the woman’s money.  In order to have a case, she has to demonstrate that the harm caused by the error is greater than the cost of the sperm itself.  In that case, I don’t see how she has a case without admitting that the baby will suffer harm because she doesn’t really like it.

    • #13
  14. Fake John Galt Coolidge
    Fake John Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Sounds like somebody is looking for a payday.

    • #14
  15. MikeHs Inactive
    MikeHs
    @MikeHs

    I’d like to hear her explanation about all this to Payton when he’s she’s grown up.

    “You see son daughter, it wasn’t you, but…  but….  uh….”

    (There, corrected)

    • #15
  16. Julia PA Inactive
    Julia PA
    @JulesPA

    Misthiocracy:

    AIG:Well, certainly the mother has grounds for a suit here. After all, don’t they select the specific sperm donor in these cases? If so, than the wrong donor was given to her. That’s a pretty big screw up.

    Ah, but how far should that liability go? As 1967mustangman points out, the clinic refunded the woman’s money. In order to have a case, she has to demonstrate that the harm caused by the error is greater than the cost of the sperm itself. In that case, I don’t see how she has a case without admitting that the baby will suffer harm because she doesn’t really like it.

    In the natural world, we generally see the characteristics of the sperm donor, and in most cases even have opportunities to opt out of the “donation” process.

    From a sperm vial, so much less genetic data available to the naked eye. I’d say that is a risk that is inherent in ARTIFICIAL insemination process.

    • #16
  17. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Misthiocracy:

    Say you ask for a Coke, and the waiter brings you Pepsi instead. You take a sip of the Pepsi and decide you kinda like it, but it wasn’t what you asked for. The waiter has failed to provide the promised service/product.

    Of course, in that analogy you can always send the drink back. In the case of a human baby, that isn’t an option.

    If a now if a restaurant tries to pass Pepsi off as Coke you have a right to complain, and they should offer to get you something else or refund your money for that drink. If you sit there and drink it for 2 years and then start complaining I think then the problem is yours. I would like to point out that she had her money refunded. How much is the cost of over coming the burden of her child’s race? I thought the people who had the wrongful birth law suit were creeps but she doesn’t even have a remotely plausible case.

    • #17
  18. user_554634 Member
    user_554634
    @MikeRapkoch

    Yes John, so exhausting, and the Fates seem intent on keeping us tired…so very tired.

    • #18
  19. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    Perhaps the clinic will get to offset the savings associated with the kid getting full-ride diversity scholarships throughout her entire academic career…

    • #19
  20. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    MikeHs:I’d like to hear her explanation about all this to Payton when he’s grown up.

    “You see son, it wasn’t you, but… but…. uh….”

    Explaining it to the kid will not be hard at all:

    “You see, per (we only use gender-neutral nouns in this household!), as a member of two oppressed groups (womyn, and lesbians), caring for a member of another oppressed group (african-americans) it was my duty to extract as much money from the patriarchal capitalist establishment as possible by any means necessary.”

    • #20
  21. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    As an example of the difficulties the family faces, the suit cited hair care for the toddler.

    They should settle out of court for a couple cases of Jheri Curl.

    • #21
  22. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    The kid will suffer psychological trauma because now everyone will know that one of her two mommies was not her biological parent.

    Oh, wait…

    • #22
  23. Fake John Galt Coolidge
    Fake John Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Since the clinic actually forced unwanted sperm upon this woman against her will, could this actually be considered a case of rape?

    • #23
  24. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Fake John Galt:Since the clinic actually forced unwanted sperm upon this woman against her will, could this actually be considered a case of rape?

    She probably considered that but decided it wouldn’t bring in as much money.

    • #24
  25. 10 cents Member
    10 cents
    @

    This post is simply vial. Wait, this might be the vialest post I have ever read.

    Poor Payton, the child. I am speechless.

    • #25
  26. Rocket City Dave Inactive
    Rocket City Dave
    @RocketCityDave

    There’s one sure way to guarantee the right man is the father. That’s making babies the all natural way.

    If you insist on taking sperm sight unseen don’t be surprised when it belong to the wrong man.

    • #26
  27. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    From what I remember hearing, she still has a couple of years left to accomplish what some bioethicists have called for, the post-birth abortion – up to age 4.

    • #27
  28. Julia PA Inactive
    Julia PA
    @JulesPA

    10 cents:This post is simply vial. Wait, this might be the vialest post I have ever read.

    Poor Payton, the child. I am speechless.

    Yes, Poor Payton. Her mom is a money grubbing, ungrateful brat. No one is sure about her dad.

    • #28
  29. EThompson Member
    EThompson
    @

    The 21st century is exhausting.

    I think this pretty much sums it up. I have nothing to add.

    • #29
  30. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Wait…so the townsfolk are fine with a lesbian couple raising a child but a mixed race child is beyond the pale??  This woman is desperate for victimhood.

    • #30
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