Hello! I’d like to ask about infertility treatments and God’s will. I’m considering about becoming a single mother by choice by receiving donor sperm from a clinique. It’s a very difficult decision to make as i’m aware of the ethical concerns around sperm donation and whether it’s in the child’s best interests having been conceived this way. I’m not in a relationship and my fertility is declining fast. How does God view all this and infertility treatments and using donated sperm?
—Nelly, Finland
Dear Nelly,
I don’t know “what God thinks of this question” but I think the results have to speak for themselves. This is to say: it comes down to your own intentions and attitudes. I assume you sincerely would like to raise a child and intend to do so with love, care and wisdom. There are of course risks in becoming pregnant in this manner but are there not risks anyway? One might insist that there should be a father for this child but do not too few children have fathers in this modern era?
Pray on this question and feel from within yourself whether your heart is calm and your mind clear and content. Pray that there be a soul awaiting rebirth to whom you can provide a loving home, wise guidance, and, when needed, also wise discipline. Do not seek a child to be merely your friend or your alter ego who exists to fulfill your dreams. Seek instead a soul who will seek his/her own highest potential for this life with your assistance. Can you have a child and not feel this child is “yours,” but instead you are but a steward, a care-taker for another soul?
May the Light of divine wisdom be your guide,
Nayaswami Hriman
