Giddings urges women to give life this Easter

Former Tasmanian premier Lara Giddings has chosen Easter to acknowledge the most generous gift she’s ever received: the egg that created her daughter Natasha, and now she wants to encourage other women to do the same.

WITH a life brimming joy in the form of a 15-month-old daughter, Lara Giddings wants to thank the woman out there who made motherhood possible.

The former Tasmanian premier has chosen Easter to acknowledge the most generous gift of eggs, and encourage other women to do the same.

“I am so grateful,” she says.

“Natasha is just such a beautiful little girl, I couldn’t imagine life without her now.”

Ms Giddings’ daughter was made possible because of an anonymous woman’s decision to donate her eggs to a Hobart IVF clinic to help people facing infertility.

“That woman was prepared to go through the process of stimulating her ovaries and having her eggs harvested to donate them to someone she did not know in order to help create a life,” Ms Giddings said.

“I want to encourage other women to donate eggs.”

Ms Giddings, now 46, said the opportunity to start a family had arrived late for her – after the hectic pace of being premier and when she had met her partner Ian Magill.

“By the time I met Ian and had finished being premier, I was in a position to consider having children,” she said.

TASWEEKEND: MUM’S THE WORD FOR LARA GIDDINGS

But she experienced early signs of menopause after being premier, which reduced the chances of conceiving with her own eggs.

The reality of the situation was difficult to accept, and she tried to conceive through IVF with her own diminished ovarian reserves.

After a year of trying, and cycle after cycle of failing, it became clear that egg donation was the only option.

“I needed to go through my own journey … to come to terms with the fact that if I wanted to be a mum then the only way I could be a mum was through egg donation.”

And she has never looked back. “Natasha is all mine, even though there was an egg donor,” she said.

“She grew in my uterus, I gave birth to her and she is my baby and I love her so much.

“I am conscious of what a gift of life it was.”

FORMER PREMIER LARA GIDDINGS’ LITTLE BUNDLE OF JOY

TasIVF clinical director Bill Watkins said the demand for donor eggs in Tasmania was increasing.

He said the wait time for an egg donor was about a year, and up to two years. He said only six anonymous egg donors, and 26 known donors, had come forward to the clinic in the past year.

“That isn’t nearly enough to meet the demand,” he said.

He said the shortage of anonymous egg donors meant more women were searching for, and finding, friends willing to donate – as well as searching for willing donors through internet sites.

“The fact there is such a shortage of egg donors means people are really forced to find their own donors,” Dr Watkins said.

Some women were also looking overseas, but Dr Watkins advised against this as the donation did not fall within Australian laws regarding donor identity.

In Australia, an “anonymous” donor refers to a donor not known to the recipient. Under Australian law, all egg donors are required to make their identity available to the children conceived from egg donation when they reach 18.

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Ms Giddings said she believed it was important to be open about the way in which she conceived, and encouraged other families to be honest as well. “I want to give courage to other parents of children from donors – because it’s OK to be open and honest about it from day one.”

Mr Magill, who has four other children from a previous marriage, said he was thrilled Ms Giddings was enjoying motherhood.

“It’s just beautiful to see Lara happy and fulfilled,” he said. “It has filled that void… she had given up so much being premier,” said Mr Magill, a pharmacist.

“In this era when men and women are supposed to be equals, women still have to give up lots.”

After a year of being home full time with Natasha, Ms Giddings has stepped back into paid work on a part-time basis. Five weeks ago she took on the role of chief executive officer of the Australian Medical Association in Tasmania.

The former health minister said it was great to get her brain stimulated again, but the transition was tough.

“The first two weeks were hardest as I went from being a full-time mum to a part-time worker, juggling work and having to leave my baby at home,” Ms Giddings said.

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