A white Ohio woman is suing a Downers Grove-based sperm bank, alleging that the company mistakenly gave her vials from an African-American donor, a fact that she said has made it difficult for her and her same-sex partner to raise their now 2-year-old daughter in an all-white community.Look, I sympathize with this woman, as well as her partner, who is conspicuously absent from this suit. She wanted a white child. There's absolutely nothing wrong, or racist about that. When she found out about the mixup, she chose the see the pregnancy to term, and at least on the surface appears to be a loving and supportive mother of a child she didn't ideally want. So there's that.
Jennifer Cramblett, of Uniontown, Ohio, alleges in the lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court that Midwest Sperm Bank sent her the vials of an African-American donor's sperm in September 2011 instead of those of a white donor that she and her white partner had ordered.
Cramblett, 36, learned of the mistake in April 2012, when she was pregnant and ordering more vials so that the couple could have another child with sperm from the same donor, according to the lawsuit. The sperm bank delivered vials from the correct donor in August 2011, but Cramblett later requested more vials, according to the suit.
"On August 21, 2012, Jennifer gave birth to Payton, a beautiful, obviously mixed-race baby girl," the lawsuit states. "Jennifer bonded with Payton easily and she and Amanda love her very much. Even so, Jennifer lives each day with fears, anxieties and uncertainty about her future and Payton's future."
Raising a mixed-race daughter has been stressful in Cramblett and Zinkon's small, all-white community, according to the suit. Cramblett was raised around people with stereotypical attitudes about nonwhites, the lawsuit states, and did not know African-Americans until she attended college at the University of Akron.
"Because of this background and upbringing, Jennifer acknowledges her limited cultural competency relative to African-Americans and steep learning curve, particularly in small, homogenous Uniontown, which she regards as too racially intolerant," the lawsuit states.
Part of that learning curve has included getting her daughter's hair cut, which according to the suit requires Cramblett to travel to a black neighborhood, "where she is obviously different in appearance, and not overtly welcome."
She fears that her "all white and unconsciously insensitive family," which has never been able to fully embrace Jennifer's homosexuality, could have a negative effect on her daughter, according to the lawsuit.
On the other hand, I can't help but cringe at the conflation of her lily-white town's racial climate and that of the "black neighborhood, where she is obviously different in appearance, and not overtly welcome". Seriously, what the f*ck is that sh*t? Is she trying to say that this baby's making her life harder because she has to spend a couple of hours a month around dreaded N-words to keep the child's high bun looking fresh? Because if so, I have bad news for her: raising a black child is gonna get a lot more complicated.
I'm also not sure what she's aiming for here. The lab admitted its error. She made the decision to see the pregnancy through. She also made the decision to raise said child in an environment that she already knew to be racially hostile. I suspect a lot of her family's backlash is related to her sexual orientation as well. So where's she gonna move? She's scared of black people but has a black baby? This sh*t just don't add up.
I feel for this woman, but I really feel for that kid. What do ya'll think?
Question: Does this woman have a case? Is the lab liable beyond the initial admission of error and subsequent refund?
