Russian billionaire Pavel Durov has made his frozen sperm available worldwide through his Altra Vita clinic. He claims that he is doing this to alleviate a shortage of “high-quality donor material.” And he adds that his sperm has fathered at least 100 children in at least 12 countries. Then we read of Chinese billionaires going outside of China, where domestic surrogacy is illegal, to quietly have large numbers of U.S.-born babies. Specifically, Xu Bo, a Chinese billionaire, claims to have more than 100 children born through surrogacy in the U.S. More than that, this online gaming billionaire has, for years, broadcast his ambition to build a “sprawling dynasty of children.” What does the future hold, since it sounds like he is just getting started? May I remind us that by virtue of the 14th Amendment, a baby born in the United States is a U.S. citizen?

Stop! Hold it! Does anyone speak out for all those babies, and what is going to happen to them? And what about the women, lured into being inseminated by a Russian billionaire, who believe he will leave his money to them and their babies. 

Both of these stories are missing more than just outrage; they are missing moral clarity. These billionaires represent a growing global fertility marketplace that completely misses the mark by treating women as a means and children as an outcome. Where is the moral clarity necessary to support these human beings with lifelong needs?

These vulnerable women have no way of knowing that the money will be there when they need it. And of course, many of them have little to no knowledge of genetics and cannot know that just because the sperm comes from a successful man does not mean that a baby conceived with that sperm will indeed be successful. Additionally, the mother’s own genetics will also be a major determinant of “who” their child is.

An example of the futility of producing the perfect human can be found in Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers.” Gladwell tells the story of Christopher Langan. Langan has an extraordinarily high IQ with unbelievable intellectual potential. Yet, Langan cannot translate his brilliance into any successful, creative, or helpful work. Gladwell tells this story to show that intelligence alone is not sufficient for success.  

This story shows us that even if women have children from the sperm of a rich or successful man, and even if the children are intelligent, it does not mean that the kids will be able to do anything useful.   

I am an infertility specialist. I began my practice in 1968 when all we could do for infertile women was give those who were not ovulating regularly a drug called Clomid. I finished my practice in 1995, having joined three other doctors in the mid-80s, to develop one of the first successful non-university IVF programs in the U.S. 

Through all those years, I saw the guttural pain of women who could not conceive. They would do anything to become pregnant. I had patients who would go through multiple operations and multiple IVF procedures, all extremely stressful, to have a baby. This quest consumed their lives and emotions.

These billionaires and the international commercial fertility clinics are developing and preying on these vulnerable women, whom they know they can “trap” into their work. And in doing so, they are producing babies who will never know their biological father. Even more important, these babies will not have their biological father to help their mom raise them. Who knows who the substitute father will be or if there will even be one?

And the very idea of a “sprawling dynasty of children” spits in the face of the idea that children are themselves valuable. It denies the need for a “warm nest” – a home – of Mom and Dad to raise them to be average, upstanding citizens.

Who knows how many of these children will suffer from depression as they personally battle with the questions about their very identity and place in life?

This is not merely a story about wealth or nationality. It is about the value of human life.  Children are not commodities to be designed, ordered, or stockpiled like products on a shelf. They are human beings with inherent dignity and worth. As medical advancements press forward, the nuclear family – a mother, father, and child – is a sacred trust and must always be preserved, valued, and protected by all of us.

The public discourse surrounding this topic is deeply lacking any serious discussion of responsibility. Who is accountable for these children as they grow up? Who ensures they are nurtured and given reliable emotional and psychological stability? Wealth can never substitute for presence, and a child needs a supportive mother and father in order to thrive.

Without limits on ethically challenged fertility clinics and their practices, we will continue to witness these heartbreaking stories. So many women naturally long for a man who cherishes them, listens to them, and respects them, and eventually becomes their husband.  They hope to become a mom who nurtures their precious children. Yes, these evil men are twisting this beautiful yearning of women in ways that sabotage both the women’s future and the futures of their children. When these babies are born, their mothers will love and care for them, because that is who they are. But it will not be in the way they had dreamed of and deserved – a family rooted in love and trust.

Society must draw ethical boundaries here because without it, the most vulnerable among us – women and children – will continue to suffer the cost. Progress in any form does not take a step forward without moral restraint.