Lesbian pregnant using web-sourced sperm

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By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 30th June 2003 11:14 GMT

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A Liverpool Lesbian has fallen pregnant using sperm she bought from an Internet sperm donation service.

Jaime Saphier, 26, is expecting a baby in January in one of the first such pregnancies in the UK.

Saphier and partner Sarah Watkinson, 31, paid the Man Not Included web site to match them with a sperm donor and provide medical screening. Man Not Included describes itself as a sperm donor introduction service for lesbians and single women.

The couple turned to the service - which charges a registration fee of £750 plus £80 per donor search - after their GP refused to help Saphier conceive, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Man Not Included allows clients to select the race, eye colour, height and weight of a preferred donor. The BBC reports 16 couples have conceived using sperm obtained through the site the last year.

Saphier's pregnancy has raised questions about the nature of parenthood and sparked a moral debate along fairly predictable lines. Representatives of the Catholic Church said that the process used by Man Not Included cheapened procreation and deprived children from knowing their father.

Dr Anthony Cole, chairman of the Medical Ethics Alliance, expressed "disquiet that this could be done on a commercial basis".

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Merseyside Gay and Lesbian Forum said being born into a stable and loving family, whatever the sexuality of its members, is the most important factor in a child's development. ®