An Ohio lesbian couple sued sperm bank after the donor mixed up, instead of having a white baby they ended up having a sperm from African-American.
Jennifer Cramblett and her partner, Amanda Zinkon, looked forward to becoming parents. They went to the Midwest Sperm Bank in Downers Grove, a Chicago suburb, back in 2011. However, the couple made headlines this week after she filed a lawsuit against the Chicago-area Midwest Sperm Bank for wrongful birth and breach of warranty.
Cramblett told news outlet in a phone interview that she and her partner, Amanda wanted their child to bear some resemblance to them — particularly the latter, who would not be carrying the baby. However, that excitement turned to disappointment after they found out that they didn’t get the sperm they ordered.
When Cramblett, five months pregnant, called the sperm bank requesting the same donor’s sperm so Zinkon could also get pregnant, they found that a donor with blond hair and blue eyes, which they ordered, is not what was given to them.
What was more disappointing is that she was only told the mix-up happened because the sperm bank keeps handwritten records instead of electronic ones, which allowed the donor numbers to be misread.
“After a moment of panic, oh Lord, everything’s changing in me so quickly I knew I had to be strong. I have this child in my stomach,” Cramblett said.
She gave birth in 2012 to a beautiful biracial girl named Payton. She claimed that they love their 2-year-old daughter, Payton and what angers her is not those people who think she doesn’t want the child because of her skin tone but those people would even think she doesn’t want her child.”
Cramblett is, however, afraid that raising Payton in their predominately white Uniontown, Ohio community may be challenging so they will have to move away from their current home in Uniontown, Ohio — a place she described as white, conservative and too racially intolerant.
“This isn’t LA or New York. We’re not on the coasts. We’re in farm country,” Cramblett said. “That raises my concerns [for Payton.] Being a lesbian growing up in a small town, I went through a lot of things that were hard to me. I don’t want her to have to go through that.”
“I want her to feel very connected to all parts that make up who she is. I’m not able to give her that part of the heritage, and neither is anyone from her family.
The couple spent thousands of dollars for the donor’s sperm so they’re suing it for emotional distress and financial loss.
“This is a life you are creating. You have to take all the measures possible to make sure you get it right,” Cramblett said.
Sources: Fox 19, The Huffington Post, Mad World News/Facebook Photo Credit: Trending Views Video Credit: CNN/YouTube