Woman sues sperm bank after racial mix-up
Posted: Oct 2, 2014 2:17 PM CDT | Updated: Nov 5, 2014 3:55 PM CDT
(CNN) -- At five months pregnant, Jennifer Cramblett and her same-sex partner learned that Cramblett had been inseminated with the wrong sperm from the wrong donor with the wrong ethnicity.
Cramblett told CNN that her \"shock\" came when she called Midwest Sperm Bank to secure more vials for a second pregnancy.
\"When I called to order that sperm and the vials, I asked them for (donor) 380 and they came back on the line and said I do believe we have sent you donor number 330, are you sure that's not what you asked for?\" said Cramblett.
\"They came back on the line and then had asked me if I had requested an African-American donor. At that point, I said no, 380 was blond-haired, blue-eyed, resembling my partner, Amanda. They said we believe 330 is an African-American donor. We can no longer talk to you anymore,\" said Cramblett.
At that point, Cramblett and her partner, both white, were faced with having an African-American child and raising her in Uniontown, Ohio, a rural community that, according to the last census, is 98% white.
Two years later Cramblett and her partner are moms to an African-American girl they love \"unconditionally\" but whom they want to raise in a more diverse community.
Last week, Cramblett sued Midwest Sperm Bank with the goal to get them to change their policy and to obtain the funds so that their family can relocate.
\"We are asking they change policy so it never happens again,\" Cramblett's attorney Timothy Misny told CNN. The lawsuit also seeks \"compensation to receive the kind of counseling they will need going forward, and also to relocate to an area that is more demographically in tune with their family,\" Misny said.
\"Uniontown is a wonderful town, wonderful people, but there are no biracial children and no mixed marriages. We need to relocate Jennifer and her family to a town that offers that type of diverse culture,\" Misny said.
CNN called Midwest Sperm Bank. A woman who answered the phone and refused to identify herself said, \"Sorry, we have absolutely no comment.\"
Cramblett said she received a refund from the bank for the insemination but no apology. For now, she said, her only focus is her daughter's future.
\"I want my child to be raised around people that maybe look like her, and unfortunately, we are not going to get all of those assets there in Uniontown, Ohio,\" she said. \"We want her to grow up in a community where she feels accepted, feels like it's normal to be who she is.\"