Fake sperm donor has 60 kids
A man who used four different aliases to donate sperm – fathering more than 60 children – was unmasked when parents at a picnic discovered all their kids looked the same.
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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.
Concerned parents then started calling IVF clinics to try and find out if the man had donated sperm officially as well as through informal channels.
“The reason he was discovered is because he wasn’t fully Caucasian,” IVF clinic Fertility First’s Dr Anne Clark told News Corp.
“He had come (to Fertility First) and I think we used him once,” she said.
The man – of Indian origin – had donated once officially through Fertility First, but is believed to have then offered his services to other clinics – as well as through other channels.
“We know he got gifts, holidays – all a complete criminal offence,” Dr Clark said.
“But yes, if you try and raise it with any government, and we’ve tried repeatedly, we’re told this is too hard,” she said.
It is an offence to pay in cash or in kind for any human tissue under Australian law and it attracts a penalty of 15 years jail.
Experts are concerned cases like these will become more common now multiple Facebook groups and web pages with tens of thousands of followers allow informal sperm donors to connect with women looking to get pregnant.
Some women using the online sites are even offering to have natural sex to get pregnant “depending on the person”.
“Would prefer AI (artificial insemination), open to NI (natural insemination) depending on the person,” a 34-year-old woman posted on the Australian Backpackers Seeking Sperm Donation Facebook group she was looking for a Canberra/Sydney based donor
A sperm donor in Brisbane told the same group he was “healthy and happy to help through AI or NI”.
Even anti-vaxxers are using the sites to ensure they get sperm from unvaccinated men.
One post on the Australian Backpackers Seeking Sperm Donation Facebook group reads “fit and healthy woman looking for an unvaccinated man to donate sperm, ai (artificial insemination) only, so that I can give my 3 year old child a sibling”.
What’s really concerning experts is the sheer volume of women using the one sperm donor and the risk that in the future half siblings could procreate without knowing they were related leading to genetic deformities.
“For donor conceived people to know that they were conceived as a result of these sorts of transactions is horrifying,” Donor Conceived Australia national director Aimee Shackleton said.
“A lot of these transactions, people talk about meeting up in a car park or hotel and passing over a fresh sample for immediate use,” Dr Shackelton said.
“To know that was the way that you were conceived is a terrible thing to think about.
“We are human beings whose life ought to begin with dignity, and not as a process of some unregulated anonymous transaction”.
Many donor-conceived people are interested in having a relationship with their genetic family and donor but it’s not possible to have a meaningful relationship with large groups of up to 100 siblings, Dr Shackelton said.
She said people intent on needing to create life at all costs had not always considered the best interests of the child that’s created through these procedures and processes.
“Our organisation was created to raise awareness of the views of donor conceived people – we’re here to say ‘hey, how would you feel if you were created like this’,” she said.
INFORMAL SPERM DONORS, LACK OF RECORDS LEADS TO ‘TRAUMA’
Sydney mum and tech worker Ashlee Tenberge found out when she turned 21 that she was a donor conceived person.
“Initially I was a little bit shell shocked … but I was very much of the opinion that I was pleased to know the truth,” the 44-year-old said.
Conceived before donor registers were kept and at a time when doctors told couples to keep their child’s donor conceived status a secret, it was two decades before she had a genetic test that allowed her to track down her parents’ donor and several siblings.
“These informal, informal groups, for donation they’re making me quite angry because they go against all of the rights of the child and they focus on the people who are wanting to create the family. It’s been all about the parents and not about the children,” she said.
“When donor conceived people don’t have ongoing access to information around siblings or medical records, or the biological background, genetic history, sources of identity, all of those things. It needs to be officially recorded for us and for future generations, without risk of information not being accessible in decades to come because the technology platform no longer exists.
That’s what not being able to access this information causes trauma for that donor conceived person when they grow up.”
INFORMAL SPERM DONOR ‘SCARES ME’
A shortage of donor sperm at IVF clinics threatened to stymie Shauna and Mel Hannah’s second attempt to have a child using IVF so they turned to family for help to conceive now six-month-old baby Ziggy.
Shauna’s brother donated sperm to the same sex couple, Mel provided her eggs and Shauna carried the child.
The IVF journey was managed by IVF clinic Genea and the families took part in multiple counselling sessions, genetic testing and the investigation of potential health problems.
Genea said it was hoping to overcome the sperm shortage problem by launching a sperm donor recruitment campaign.
“I was on a co-parenting website and looked at it every now and again but it felt weird,” Shauna said, explaining why she decided against the informal donation route.
“The sperm donors on there that post are like, ‘I prefer to do it naturally’ so I feel like they’re just in there to have sex with random women,” Shauna said.
Knowing the family health history of the sperm donor was crucial when conceiving a child and “to have a random person from an online search I wouldn’t know family history like heart disease, diabetes, all that kind of thing,” she said.
There was also a great risk that a child conceived using an informal donor might unintentionally end up in a relationship with a sibling, she said.
“If I was to say use Joe from this website, and he’s gone and had sex with 10 different other women, and then my child ends up in a relationship with this other person, that is technically his sister, that scares me,” Shauna said.
If this story has raised any issues for you and you need support please contact https://donorconceivedaustralia.org.au/home
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