Amanda Zinkon and Jennifer Cramblett originally wanted to have a white-skinned baby. The lesbian couple thought about undergoing an insemination procedure. The white couple headed off to a sperm bank where they decided to use the sperm from Donor No. 380, whom they believed to be blond and blue-eyed.
At the fifth month of Jennifer's pregnancy, the couple learned that she had been inseminated with sperm from a different donor. Instead of Donor No. 380, the bank used the sperm from Donor No. 330, who is black. The sperm bank must have confused the number 3 on the label with the number 8.
Jessica Barrow, an information technology professional, says that the company made a mistake and should pay for it. She reiterates that what the couple is saying has no racist intent; they were not talking about not wanting a black child.
"They're saying, we asked for something, you gave us something different, and now we have to adjust to that," said Barrow.
Rory Mullen, author of Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care: A Parent's Guide to Beginning Natural Hair Styling, agrees with the couple in filing the lawsuit. A company must be held responsible when it promises to offer one thing but gives another. She thinks that Jennifer's real problem revolves around the experience of raising a black child since it has taken her more than two years to file a lawsuit.
Denene Millner's view that the lawsuit is rooted in fear was based on America's history of slavery. That time, it was quite common to see white men having a child with a black partner. However, seeing a white woman who has a brown baby was thought to be scandalous.
Darron Smith, co-author of White Parents, Black Children: Experiencing Transracial Adoption and a professor at Wichita State University, comments that the lawsuit filed by the couple reflects the unexamined racist views in the U.S. and also Jennifer's anxiety on raising a biracial child.
The incident also shows how people place value on a person's skin color. He adds that because of the law on supply and demand, the cost of adopting a black child is only half as much as the cost of adopting a white child. As a result, most black kids remain unadopted in foster homes.
