7PM report

[Caramello]

Did anyone see the 7 PM report today? One of the FS from Melbourne IVF was explaining about the shortage of sperm donors across Australia - that there are only 10 donors basically available atm.

She pointed out that both Dave Hughes and Charlie Pickering were ideal donors. Dave Hughes reacted badly to the whole idea - particularly with the idea that a child from a donation had the right to find him at age 18.

Then there was some confusion as to entitlements under the law.

George Negus got offended as he was out of the running.

The whole segment was set up as Melbourne IVF is now advertising for donors.

Dave asked about payments and the FS very sensibly said that altrustic donors were preferred.

Did anyone else see it? What did you think?

[TeniBear]

I didn't see it, but I did read an article today saying Australia has a "shortage" of sperm donors. I immediately told Scott he should do it

[barney]

yes i did see it hun and found it very interesting.
to the point that im wanting to donate my eggs(ive always wanted to danoate them but think now sooner than later) (i know it was about sperm but still got me thinking )
i asked dh if he would donate sperm and like george negus , says "but babe they rekon im too old ?"47
well i said no i dont think so ..i mean we have a 3 month old ivf baby so how could they say your to old ?how can my dh still go through the hole ivf thing but be to old to donate ?
my point is if you can still produce sperm you shouldnt be to old yeh ?/?
so im going to be calling our clinic TODAY to see what they say cause im very serious if we can help some poor couple have there dreams come true why wouldnt you
and yes hun charlie and daves reaction wasnt the best at all

if i remember correctly in nsw alone there is only 10 registered sperm donors and dave and charlies only comment were "well what if they come looking for me when they turn 18 "omg what...

[*Beema*]

I did see the segment, and found it quite interesting. I couldn't believe that in the whole state of NSW there were only 10 sperm donors (not sure how many egg donars), from a population of just under 7 million people . One of the guys actually said that it doesn't do a lot for the gene pool of IVF users needing sperm donation in NSW.

They also discussed the limit on donations I think it was now 5-10 donations, I am not certain on this bit as DD was making noise , but I am wondering if there were previously limitations as previously it was annonymous, therefore no records of who made the donations so it may not have been clear how many donations some of the previous donors had actually made, so if for instance an individual made 20 or 30 donations the risk of his "children" possibly meeting up in the future increases and the risks associated with "half brother/sister" relationships.

I think it highlights a number of issues, as Hughsey said he didn't want a heap of people knocking on his door at the age of 18 wanting to meet him, even though they have no right to his money, cars houses etc. I think there would still be that connection that you have helped conceived that person, when you meet them face to face how would you deal with seeing someone that is like you....? How would you separate yourself from them emotionally... some would be happy jsut to meet the donor and htank them, others may have more questions as to why, how many other donations did they make etc.

Please let me know if I am wrong with any of this it was a bit tricky to listen to all of it thanks to DD

[Caramello]

Smithy,

I think the reason that they limit the donors to age 45 is so that there is more likelyhood of an 18 year old being able to be in contact with their donor father. I know that our donor 'just' made the limit at age 44.

Beema,

The donor is limited to donating to 10 families. You're right - it was a big deal when there were anonymous donors that were not tracked. Geraldine Hewitt is a child created from donor sperm, and in her research to find her father she found one man donated over a period of nine years to six different Sydney clinics — he made 318 donations — and these clinics don't have records for how many resulting births."

I think that this is why they don't want to go down the paying for sperm track - I always see that episode of the Simpsons where Barney has donated to support his alcoholism, and there are 20 kids in the same suburb all with his familiar burp.

To me meeting an unknown donor would not be all that dissimilar to an adoptee meeting with their biological mother or father. Most children would be interested in finding out about their biological family.

What I found interesting in the whole segment was that a) it really showed why men were very reluctant to donate, and b) the lengths the clinics have to go to now to try to attract donors. And I really don't know how the clinics will overcome that reluctance.

[Freya]

I didnt see it but its interesting that they have such a shortage. My Dh would never do it (and he isnt keen on me donating eggs either) because he cant handle the idea of a child of his/mine biologically out there not knowing us. Which is fair enough.
I definately think the child being able to access donor information at 18 is what scares alot off. They may be donating out of good will but not at all interested in knowing the resulting child. I can only imagine how confronting it would be for the donor; to be married with a family 20yrs down the track and suddenly have this person show up announcing they are the product of your donation. But then again I can see how the child may want to know the donor/family.

Dhs answer to the donor shortage? Give single soldiers in the military the day off for donating and there will never be a shortage again His arguement is youll be guaranteed they are fit and healthy and usually disease free.

[alioops]

Dhs answer to the donor shortage? Give single soldiers in the military the day off for donating and there will never be a shortage again

So True!!! they love their days off

[Lenny]

It creates discussion and that's got to be a good thing. There will be a number of people thinking about this or talking with a partner perhaps.

Although I think it's a wonderful wonderful gift, I am thankful that the clinic has a strong counselling process. I would hate to think someone did this (either eggs or sperm or embryos) and ended up regretting it - or their own children were negatively affected by it. It is definitely not something to be taken lightly or flippantly, and it has repercussions for a number of people.

[sevie]

Honestly, why do men (and in fact, women) worry so much at the thought of a beautiful human being knocking on their door (likely to be in their 20s and 30s) to say hello?!!!?! Is it that bad to offer life?!! And offer a childless helpless couple the chance of parenthood?!!!! geez louise! I'm braver than that...and thank God my egg donor friend-of-a-friend is too!!!!!!! Blessed are the selfless.

[TeniBear]

Honestly, why do men (and in fact, women) worry so much at the thought of a beautiful human being knocking on their door (likely to be in their 20s and 30s) to say hello?!!!?! Is it that bad to offer life?!! And offer a childless helpless couple the chance of parenthood?!!!! geez louise! I'm braver than that...and thank God my egg donor friend-of-a-friend is too!!!!!!! Blessed are the selfless.

It's not so much selfishness, I think. Some men may prefer to stay anonymous so there's no conflict with the birth parents when their child tracks him down, for example. Maybe they don't realise they have any responsibility to the child.

They're not saying they don't want to help unable-to-conceive couples, they just don't want anything to do with the baby after their bit is done. Some might, I know if I donated my eggs I'd want it to be to a friend or family member.

I think there should maybe be an option to say "no, I don't want to be tracked down" and that information made available to the birth parents when they choose their donor.

[SD2001]

I missed it.

NSW just enacted new ART legislation in January 2010. The NSW legislation reduces the number of families that can use a donor from 10 down to 5. It also removes the choice of the donor to be anonymous by creating a NSW donor registry which contains the identifying information of all donors from January 2010 onwards, which can be accessed by offspring once they turn 18. Thus if Dave Hughes did donate then any offspring born from his donations will be secretly provided Dave Hughes' complete identifying information (full name, date of birth, place of birth, private home address, ethnicity and physical characteristics, any medical or genetic history of relevance, the sex and year of birth of each of the donors "own" children) thus he is correct that any DC offspring will be given the information to stalk him and his family, including their private residential address, and Dave would not even be notified that his private information has been provided to a number of adult strangers.

I do believe there should be limits placed on the number of families a donor may help. I had a limit of 10 families when I was donating and now, with the aid of hind-sight, I think this was too many ... I know how many offspring have been born from these families and the number is a little uncomfortable to think about. I know I helped all these families but really the clinic (and to some degree the recipient families) do not really think about how the donor feels once he has given them what they want, and the reality of the number of offspring can get a little scary once it is out of the control of the donor.

These guys who donated hundreds of times in the 1990's should not have been allowed to do this. The same thing is happening today with imported sperm from some sperm banks. They do not place limits on their donors as they want to make money and it is possible that overseas donors can potentially have hundreds of offspring around the world. A good reason to NOT use imported sperm in my mind.

The solution to get more men to donate is to give them some more control over their donations and give them equal rights regarding information sharing (two way information sharing) with offspring.

Getting our military men to donate is an excellent idea.

[SD2001]

Honestly, why do men (and in fact, women) worry so much at the thought of a beautiful human being knocking on their door (likely to be in their 20s and 30s) to say hello?!!!?! Is it that bad to offer life?!! And offer a childless helpless couple the chance of parenthood?!!!! geez louise! I'm braver than that...and thank God my egg donor friend-of-a-friend is too!!!!!!! Blessed are the selfless.

Like TeniBear said, it is not really as simple as some people think it is.

Also, some people do not really think about the reality of what is actually involved. If you really want to find out what it would possibly be like then post the following information on the internet in a publicly viewable place: your full name, your date of birth, place of birth, your private home address, ethnicity and physical characteristics, any medical or genetic history relevance, and the sex and year of birth of each of your own children. Now when a complete stranger turns up on your doorstep unexpected and uninvited, what will you do? No difference really ... the adult offspring are complete strangers who are unexpected and uninvited, and you know nothing about them or their intentions.

[sevie]

Thanks SD2001 for your insights. Especially as a man and a donor. Initially I wanted to respond by saying that I thought you had a very cinical viewpoint, but I guess you might be right, and not everyone's All Sweetness and Light! I've very much thought about the reality of what's involve in egg and sperm donation, had counselling and thought long and hard about it, but the difference being that my donor will be known to my 'fingers crossed' future family. And my donor has told me she's very commited in giving us the eggs needed (even if it's more than one stim cycle) to have however many children we've hoped for, but she's requested that her eggs only be used for us and that we don't, later down the track, donate them (which we may have done otherwise).

[SD2001]

Hi sevie,

It sounds like you are using a known donor, so you should not have any issues with information sharing between your family and the donor's family.

In my case, because I donated through a clinic, I am an anonymous donor. That is how it used to be and how the recipient families wanted it to be. I am happy to exchange information with my recipient families as long as it is a mutual choice and the information exchange goes both ways. I am even happy for us to meet up, should they want to, though I do not want to be part of their family.

My clinic has always had instructions that I can be contacted indirectly via the clinic by the recipient families should they wish to contact me.

The thing that I find curious is that not a single recipient family of mine has ever contacted me to ask me anything about my me or my family. They didn't even say "Thank You".

With the new legislation forcibly stripping away the rights of donors, it is easy to see why they are turning away.

If I was to donate now, I would only do it as a known donor, shifting the balance of power back to the center where it should always be. However, given that the new NSW legislation does not apply to the past, it does not affect me.

Good luck with your future family.

[sevie]

From me to you, SD2001, let me warmly and sincerely thank you for your outstanding gifts of life! Your kindness is outstanding. It does suprise me that you've never received any word back from your recipients. Maybe they've never known they could send you a message or maybe they're just too traumatised by the whole business of ivf (but i imagine the need for sperm is a load less invasive and unpredictable compared with the elusive egg!!). But maybe I'm just making excuses for their poor manners!
You've honestly got a first class ticket to heaven!
Sevie x

[Mejane]

I don't think it makes any difference if half sibbling met! What about the defacto who goes from woman to woman to woman and had a few kids with each! There is already a risk there and its a natural one! Or did it started in 1960's with free love!

I know a case where the younger sister married to older sisters ex hubby after their divorce and had a couple of kids! The kids are cousins and half sibblings as well! The Aunt is also the step mother!- Now there is something ethical about that! Who would go there! Yeerrrrrk!