Australia faces sperm shortage as donor blows the whistle on 1950’s conditions at IVF clinics

Australia has a massive sperm donor shortage as wait times grow. Now, a sperm donor reveals what’s really wrong with outdated clinics.

Exclusive: A man who has fathered several children through official sperm donation has lashed out at IVF clinics claiming men are being “milked like cows” and forced to watch “porn out of the 50s or 60s”.

News Corp revealed last month there is an unregulated black market for sperm running on social media as wait times for donor sperm at some clinics reach nearly nine months.

“No water, no couches, no waiting area, no nice people say hello to you,” the donor said.

He said while women undergoing IVF are ushered into designer lounges and offered refreshments men donating sperm are sent into a dingy corridor before being shoved into a tiny toilet cubicle sized room to make their donation.

“They sit you down on a couch that’s at least 40 years old where you have a TV that has straight porn or gay porn on it, but it is porn out of the 50s or 60s like it’s kind of not anything remotely modern, it’s quite antiquated,” he said.

The most difficult part of all for donors is trying to meet the requirement to put their product into a tiny urine specimen jar which is “impossible”, he said.

“They literally say to you if it touches your hand on the way, it contaminates the donation and can’t be used,” the man said.

The donation is then “handed over to a nurse wearing almost a biohazard suit and, it’s just not a great experience”.

He claimed men who only wanted to donate to two families were pressured to make up to 10 donations at clinics desperately short of sperm.

“There’s a lot of pressure on you to maximize the number of donations you give. So the clinic obviously makes money off your donations, and so they pressure you to try and do up to 10 donations,” he said.

Laboratory microscopic research of IVF (in vitro fertilisation). Picture: iSTOCK

The sperm donation process takes about a year and involves psychological and genetic screening and donors have to agree to their identity being revealed to any children once they turn either 16 or 18 years of age, depending on which state they are in.

The donor said he had no issue with these requirements and the appreciation from the women he donated to was astounding. He said some of them had asked for him to build a relationship with the children while they were growing up.

IVF clinics defended their treatment of sperm donors, saying they receice the same dignity and respect as women undergoing IVF procedures.

“Their care takes place in the same modern clinic facilities as our other patients and is overseen by the same expert team,” IVF Australia medical director Dr Peter Illingworth said.

Genea’s medical director Associate Professor Mark Bowman said the experience described by the donor was not one he would receive at Genea.

“I don’t know how salubrious you want them (sperm donation rooms) to be but they’ve got Internet porn, proper recliner chairs and things. Our system uses the same collection systems as the partners and husbands and we are regularly getting feedback about all that sort of stuff,” Assoc Prof Bowman said.

Monash IVF’s chief scientific officer Associate Professor Deirdre Zander- Fox said it tried to make sure the environment that sperm donors come into is welcoming and inclusive.

“I feel that our environment and the care given to our donors is exceptional but obviously there’s always room for continuous engagement of your patients and feedback, I’ve not heard of being ushered into a back room,” she said.

News Corp last month revealed a man who used four different aliases to donate sperm – fathering more than 60 children – was unmasked when parents attending a picnic unwittingly discovered most of their kids looked the same.

The man donated to members of the LGBTQI community and it was at one of their support events that they made the shocking discovery, with concerned parents calling IVF clinics to

find out whether the man had donated sperm officially as well as through informal channels.

Originally published as Australia faces sperm shortage as donor blows the whistle on 1950’s conditions at IVF clinics