Perth sperm donor Adam Hooper visits Brisbane on baby making tour

One of Australia’s most prolific sperm donors has jetted into Brisbane for an unconventional baby making tour, where he will provide an instant specimen to strangers who are ovulating during his 10-day stay.

One of Australia’s most prolific sperm donors has jetted into Brisbane for a baby making mini tour where he hopes to impregnate multiple women in just over a week.

In an unregulated and highly unusual move, Adam Hooper, a father-of-two, who has more than 20 donor-conceived children, will provide an instant sperm specimen to strangers who are ovulating during his 10-day stay.

His hope is to create a unique mothers’ group where the women can meet up for support and the children can get to know each other.

The DIY baby tour is part of a rising number of women who are prepared to ditch high-cost conventional clinics that are dealing with donor shortages to seek out private donors.

Dozens of women are planning to connect with Mr Hooper during his trip and the Sunday Mail has spoken to four of them who are all single and have been unlucky in love. One is already pregnant with Mr Hooper’s sperm and admits she previously went on 82 dates. She flew to WA to meet him.

Donations are given to the women in a cup.

Perth sperm donor Adam Hooper. Picture: Ross Swanborough

The 37-year-old Perth man has helped produce up to 900 babies through his popular Facebook page Sperm Donation Australia that matches donors with couples or singles. The group boasts more than 1500 members

Mr Hooper also takes the unconventional step of allowing his sperm donor children to contact him at any time rather than wait until the age of 18 like clinic donors.

Donors do not receive payment for deposits, it is illegal in Australia to accept payment for sperm. Expenses can be covered.

Mr Hooper said he simply wants others to experience the joy of being a parent.

Initially, he thought he would donate to clinics in the traditional way, but didn’t want the restrictions that came with it.

“I started my research and discovered that I had no say in who would receive half of my DNA. That was the first red flag. What if the child turned 18 reached out to me and was traumatised because they had horrible parents and then asked why I blindly helped create them?” he said.

Mr Hooper is running a seminar in Brisbane next weekend where many more possible recipients are expected to turn up.

He said he will not be able to donate to all women in such a short trip and may be limited to four or five donations.

Many of the interested women are single in their late 30s and 40s.

“The women have told me that the idea of having a few children in Queensland to the same donor would allow them to connect, support each other and the kids can get to know each other — it would be a mothers’ group with a difference,” Mr Hooper said.

The Perth man’s Facebook group is booming with registrations rising by two thirds in two years.

Mr Hooper, who has regular medical checks, refutes any suggestion he is like the men who have become famous overseas for fathering over 100 children or the British man who hands out cups of sperm from the back of a van.

“There is nothing selfish in what I do. Unlike others I am prepared to be in the lives of my donor-conceived children. I’m not a co-parent but if the child wants they can have my photo or call me if they need. I am available for contact. I want the kids to have a sense of knowing where they are from — too many donor children have to spend years trying to track down their fathers,” he said.

Greta French-Kennedy is hoping to have a baby with the help of Adam Hooper. Picture: Supplied

Greta French-Kennedy, 37, plans to fly into Brisbane this week. She is currently interstate but is moving to Queensland to live.

Mr Hooper said that his meeting with Greta could be a fleeting one due to the timing of flights.

“I’ve been in contact with Greta and if things work out and the timing is right I might have to hand over a donation at the airport,” he said.

Ms French-Kennedy told The Sunday Mail that she is very open to trying to have a baby with a donation from Mr Hooper.

“I have the deep need to be a mother. I am single and I am ready,” she said.

Ms French-Kennedy had no success with a previous sperm donation. That experience etched in her heart the sheer torture of waiting for a positive pregnancy test. She admits to crying endless tears as she yearns to hold a little girl in her arms.

“I can understand why more and more women want to go in the direction of using a private sperm donation. I love the thought that the child can contact Adam if they want. And the idea of meeting up with other women in a “mothers’ group situation sounds amazing,” she said.

Sophie from the Gold Coast is 34 and single and also is ready to have a child.

When she spoke to The Sunday Mail she broke down in tears as she revealed her chances of success with Mr Hooper were not good as the timing of her cycle was off.

“I have just received a smiley face on my ovulation app which means I’m ovulating now,” she said on Wednesday.

“Adam doesn’t arrive until Saturday so I’m disappointed with that.

“I have always thought I would fall in love and have my fairytale ending resulting in a family. It has been suggested to me by family to get a donor for a number of years but I didn’t like the idea of not being able to meet and see my donor in clinic

“I want to know that I find the donor attractive, as in real life I wouldn’t procreate with someone I wasn’t attracted to. I started googling and Facebook searching Australian donors where I found Adam’s page. I have been a silent member for only a short while and I saw his post about being in Brisbane. I then reached out to Adam,” she said.

“I am really disappointed that my window may have passed but am hopeful that his tour will spark more people to think about private donation in our state to open more opportunities for me,” she said.

Lucy, 43, from Brisbane, also prefers to stay private.

“I haven’t had stable enough relationships to have had a child but I feel now is the right time of life. As you get older you have made mistakes and learned from them and are more financially secure to raise a child on your own. There is no need to just settle for a relationship so you can have a baby.

“If things worked out with Adam it would be a dream come true. Imagine being in a mothers’ group with the kids all related what a beautiful concept.”

NO TIME TO WASTE AFTER DUD DATES

Ingrid Stefaniw who is 12 weeks pregnant thanks to a sperm donation from Adam Hooper. Picture: Jamie Hanson

Brisbane’s Ingrid Stefaniw went on 82 online dates in a bid to meet a life partner.

The disappointing endless first dates wore her down and finally she decided if she was to fulfil her dream of having a baby she would have to go it alone.

“There is a lot of pressure on women in their 30s who are single when friends are starting to have families. I just didn’t want to settle with any man and I think that more and more women of my age are the same. There are options now and for me using a private sperm donor seemed the right path to take,” the 35 year old said.

“I had already been through an attempt at IVF through a clinic and it failed. I paid $13,000. But the thing that I didn’t like the most was that the donor system was anonymous and the child had no chance of connection until they became adults.”

After connected with Mr Hooper on his Facebook page Ms Stefaniw decided to fly to Perth to meet him and collect a sperm donation. She is now 12 weeks pregnant and Mr Hooper hopes to attend her antenatal scan.

“So many people have said to me in the past why don’t you just have a one-night stand and try to get pregnant but that was not an option for me. I don’t want to trap any man into giving me a child. This way, while it may be unregulated and unconventional, I feel safe. I hope that other women will be as lucky as me when they meet Adam this week.”

ARE THE DONATIONS LEGAL?

Fertility doctors warn the unregulated donation of sperm will only increase if industry rules continue to tighten.

“If the fertility industry is hit with more complex, bureaucratic rules and regulations around donors, the bigger the chance that donations will be driven underground,” David Molloy, a Queensland managing director with Virtus Health, said.

Dr Molloy said if the state government decided to establish a donor conception register that held information about donors, fewer men would take part.

The government is looking into sperm, egg and embryo donations is ongoing and a decision is expected next month.

“If we deter men giving donations to clinics there will be less and less sperm available and we will push couples to look online or in other ways,” he said.

The doctor said that when donations are made to clinics, they are thoroughly screened for disease and one donor would only be donating to a maximum of 10 families.