I didn't explain myself very well...Known donor is one which you know personally and have usually asked them to donate, identifiable donor is basically an anonymous donor at the moment but the child will be able to find out more information about them on their 18th birthday, and anonymous donor is one in which the child will never know any more details, they will never have any way to contact this person.

Sue, sounds like you have an identifiable donor. Most clinics have stopped offering anonymous donors at all but it is not currently legislation so some donor clinics still offer anonymous donors. This is actually one of the reasons why there are so, so few donors at clinics anymore (and why some clinics who offer anonymous donors still have more donors on their lists). As Anney mentioned there was a show on 4 corners which I missed but I read the transcript...it was really interesting. But I feel that many women will be restricted from accessing donor insemination because there simply aren't enough men who want to be identified.

Hi Anney...thankyou for your response. I can readily understand that. Just curious for arguements sake...if you didn't know someone who was willing or able to donate their eggs would that have an impact on how you feel about identifiable vs anonymous given the supply problem?

There are so many good reasons why we have restictions placed on things but sometimes the flip side is really frustrating. For example in the states where sperm and eggs are able to be sold there is a readily available supply, but because in Australia we don't allow the sale of human tissue or organs, we don't allow the sale of sperm/eggs and consequently there is a supply problem. Which is now being compounded by the move towards identifiable donors. I do understand much of the reasoning towards protecting the rights of future offspring but it's also hard to look past the frustration of restricted options.