https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/sperm-donor-laws-must-change-after-...Gamete donation, or the donation of sperm and eggs to fertility clinics, gives infertile couples and single parents the opportunity to conceive a child.
Tens of thousands of children have been conceived in Australia over the past four decades via donated sperm and eggs. Yet donor conception is vastly more complex than the images of happy parents and little bundles of joy that IVF clinics use to advertise.
Things get complicated when, for example, the same sperm donor fathers 48 children, which is exactly what happened in a fertility clinic in Brisbane over the past fifteen years, according to The Courier-Mail.
A blue eyed Aussie surfer, only identified by a serial number, repeatedly donated sperm at the same clinic over a period of several years where his samples were used by almost 50 women.
Years later, some of the donor’s biological children met by accident at a daycare facility, only to discover that they are diblings (donor conceived siblings).
The women who used the man’s sperm have expressed their “shock” at discovering that other children in their neighbourhood are biological half-siblings of their own kids.
It’s hard to imagine how the kids themselves would have reacted to discovering a “dibling” in the playground. Presumably, they were confused and, perhaps, distressed.
Things get even more complicated when you consider the potential adult ramifications. Some experts have warned that these children may unwittingly enter into a romantic relationship with a brother or sister unknowingly, particularly as there is such a large concentration of children from the same donor within the one geographical area.
To some extent, though, these speculations are irrelevant. It’s important that we realise the difficulties that these kids face.
RELATED: Sperm donor in Australia to father more children
Donor conceived children often struggle to come to terms with the fact that they were conceived using sperm or eggs from someone they have never met — and may never get the chance to meet. Often, they were conceived before the practice of anonymous donation was abolished, and so have no prospect of ever learning who their donor parent is. Just like children who are adopted, many donor children experience a sense of fractured identity as a result of not knowing the identity of their biological parent(s).
And while evidence suggests that donor-conceived kids are as psychologically healthy as children conceived by natural means, there is an undeniable desire felt by many to know their heritage.
Parents must also decide when and if to tell their children that they were conceived using donated gametes. The internet is awash with testimonies of children who presumed they were biologically related to the people they called “mum” or “dad” for years, only to find out that their biological mother or father was a gamete donor. One British man told the BBC recently that he felt that his “entire existence was a lie” after he found out by accident in conversation at age 22 that he was donor conceived.
RELATED: What it’s really like to be an egg donor
Some parents are afraid to tell their children because of fear of the psychological impact it might have on them. Others just don’t believe they have a duty to tell their kids.
To avoid anything like the Brisbane case ever occurring again in the future, there needs to be closer scrutiny of fertility clinics to limit the number of children whom one donor can father. Kids who are donor conceived also deserve the liberty of knowing how they were born and who their parents really are.
Regulation of gamete donation in Australia could be described as inconsistent at best. Sperm donors have been restricted to 10 women in Victoria and South Australia, and only five in NSW. Yet there is no law in Queensland that determines a limit.
its a TIME BOMB
Forum
Pages: 1
Science gone Mad. (Read 2530 times)
