Meet The Donor-Conceived Comedian Who Wants Everyone To Know How Corrupt And Unethical Big Fertility Is

Laura High felt different growing up. It wasn’t until she was 14 years old, when her father disclosed that she was conceived using purchased sperm, that her suspicions she was born an outlier were confirmed.

“It was like seeing the matrix. It was like everything makes sense now. I knew something was weird. I knew something was off. I was always wondering if I was switched at birth,” High shared his views with The Federalist. “And that’s a common experience for a lot of donor-conceived people.”

High didn’t pay much attention to the details of her conception when she first learned the news, but it wasn’t long before the New York City-based stand-up comedian wanted to review her heritage in depth.

“At 19, I started having questions because I started talking to my friends about it. And I think one of my friends even brought up, ‘Are you ever worried about health?’” High.

That led High on a long journey of discovery that didn’t just pique her interest, but ultimately led to a peak in her comedy career.

The Acorn Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree

High, then 19, decided that she wanted to learn more about her biological father. The first thing she did was to contact the doctor who had assisted her parents in their divorce decades ago.

“He told me: ‘Your donor was anonymous. So even if I knew who he was, I couldn’t tell you who it was. But I don’t even know who it is because he came from a clinic, and that clinic burned to the ground along with all your papers. So I can’t even tell you your history. But I can tell you your donor is completely healthy,’” High recounted.

The doctor’s lack of interest in helping her uncover her familial roots left High wondering if she was the victim of a malicious DNA swap — similar to the one featured in the fertility fraud documentary “Our Father,” whereby a fertility doctor habitually used his own sperm instead of other donors’ to father some 94 (and counting) offspring, raising a slew of ethical and potential inbreeding problems — by her parents’ doctor.

High decided to discover her family’s genetic history, and she used Ancestry DNA to do so. That’s when she stumbled across the cousin of her biological father. High eventually connected with her half-siblings, who were also conceived using purchased biological matter.

High and her half siblings were astonished to discover they were all one. Similar genetic medical issues have plagued others They Suspect strongly They were inherited from their biological dad. It was impossible to prove their existence without records or verification from their biological father.

That was frustrating for High — and it signaled that this industry, which masquerades as a way for adults who dream of becoming parents to make that a reality, was a nightmare for many.