ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a labor theory of parenthood in which emotional work counts. The “facts” of motherhood—and of fatherhood for that matter—are not “given” but come into being as science progresses and as the adversaries in political struggles select what they need from the vast, ever-growing storehouses of knowledge. The “fact” of fatherhood is of a like order. If a labor theory of value gives parents rights to a child, that labor is of the heart, not the hand. Using a medically supervised sperm bank where the identity of the donor is unknown to the recipient is the most certain way to guarantee that the donor will not at some time in the future be construed as the father. Each parent would bring to a battle claims to have made another person emotionally part of themselves.
