Donor Conception (1 Viewer)

[possum56]

There are thousands of people in Australia who were conceived using donated gametes (sperm, eggs or embryos). This practice has been going on in Australia for over 6 decades.
Some states of Australia (Victoria & WA) have legislated so that those conceived in recent years have a legal right to know who their donors are and an opportunity to know if they have siblings created from the same donor.
Those born in states that do not have legislation or those born before legislation was enacted have no rights to any information. This knowledge is essential to the creation of a proper identity and knowing who the donor is may also allow donor conceived people access to a full medical history.
Adopted people in Australia have the right to know who their birth parents are even though in some states birth parents were legally promised anonymity many years ago. Governments decided that this needed to be changed “in the best interests of the child” and so enacted legislation which gave all adoptees the right to know the identity of their birth parents if this information still existed.
The situation is very different for donor conceived people even though donors in Australia have never been guaranteed anonymity by law.
Victoria which ended donor anonymity in 1998 found that they actually had more donors the year after they started using only identifiable donors.
There is a petition which will be presented to the federal Government which asks that discrimination based on when or where a person was conceived be stopped and that all donor conceived people be given the same rights as adopted people in accessing information about their biological heritage. You can sign the petition online at Donor Conception Support Group

 

[katie tully]

I do not support this at all.

EDIT: For clarification, I believe that if a man wants to donate sperm anonymously, he should be able to. I hope this petition is only for the access of medical information, and isn't aiming to make men responsible for the offspring their sperm creates.

 

[blue_chameleon]

I do not support this at all.

EDIT: For clarification, I believe that if a man wants to donate sperm anonymously, he should be able to. I hope this petition is only for the access of medical information, and isn't aiming to make men responsible for the offspring their sperm creates.

This.

There's privacy, and then there's this petition.

 

[katie tully]

the only way I could see it working, is that each donor is assigned a number instead of having their name revealed. A medical file for this number could be kept, and donor kids can access the file. That and, numbers can be run against the kids to see how many kids have been fathered by one donor.

Other than that, I don't support it. If I want to know what diseases my father has, I can't access his records unless he accesses them himself and makes them available to me. I don't see why this should be any different, and I think the mans right to privacy is paramount.

Women should know this before accepting anonymous donors, and I was under the impression that donors have a comprehensive medical history done before they're allowed to donate.

 

[katie tully]

he situation is very different for donor conceived people even though donors in Australia have never been guaranteed anonymity by law.
Victoria which ended donor anonymity in 1998 found that they actually had more donors the year after they started using only identifiable donors.

This doesn't prove that by removing anonymity, more men are going to donate. Maybe it's a reflection of the times. By 1998, more men were receptive to the idea of sperm donation.

 

[Graney]

Some guy beat off to some asian porn in a clinic and jizzed in a jar, donor's are not fathers, leave them alone.

 

[xeuyrawp]

I do not support this at all.

EDIT: For clarification, I believe that if a man wants to donate sperm anonymously, he should be able to. I hope this petition is only for the access of medical information, and isn't aiming to make men responsible for the offspring their sperm creates.

I 100% agree, however medical information can be useless without a proper medical history. And a proper medical history is much more than simply medical files, so I really wonder if this would solve many problems at all.

 

[katie tully]

I 100% agree, however medical information can be useless without a proper medical history. And a proper medical history is much more than simply medical files, so I really wonder if this would solve many problems at all.

Governments decided that this needed to be changed “in the best interests of the child” and so enacted legislation which gave all adoptees the right to know the identity of their birth parents if this information still existed.

Yeah see, I don't see how this will make any difference. You can find your biological parents all you like, they're still under no obligation to reveal their medical history. Like I said, I know my biological father, but if he was diagnosed with something like Huntington's Disease, he is not legally obligated to share that information with me. Nor am I allowed to access his medical files without his consent.

I just think this is a fucking huge injustice to the privacy of donors ;

VICTORIA - The B.C. woman who's fighting for the records of her biological father - a medical student sperm donor - says filing a lawsuit is the "last and only thing left to do to protect this vital information."

Olivia Pratten, a 26-year-old broadcast journalist now based in New York, is engaged in a public fight at the B.C. Supreme Court to find out about her biological father.

"Not knowing my biological roots is a big loss for me and is something I've had to grieve," she says in an e-mail. "I just want to know where I came from so that I can know my place on the human tree."

Pratten was born in 1982 after her mother visited Vancouver fertility practitioner Dr. Gerald Korn. Her parents back their daughter in her court battle to keep B.C. donor records from being destroyed after six years.

Thanks to Pratten's challenge, Chief Justice Donald Brenner issued a temporary injunction on Oct. 28 ordering all fertility doctors to keep their donor records.

Her proposed class-action lawsuit names the attorney general of B.C. as discriminating against people born of sperm or egg donation because provincial law now gives adoptees the right to learn about their biological parents.

The discrepancy also violates the equality provisions of the Charter of Rights, argues Victoria lawyer Sean Hern, who is co-counsel in the case. The province has not yet filed a response and has no comment on the case.

Adoption Council of Canada president Sandra Scarth says a non-contact registry might be in order for long-ago donors who expected anonymity, similar to the one for people adopted before the 1996 B.C. Adoption Act. But from now on, identities for sperm and egg donors should be the rule once the child reaches the age of majority.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. is cited in Pratten's statement of claim because it has allowed doctors to shred donor information after six years. The college did not oppose the temporary injunction forbidding destruction, but spokesman Dr. Doug Blackman had no further comment.

According to Pratten's statement of claim, when she approached Korn about her biological father, he informed her that he was "a Caucasian medical student, who had a stocky build, brown hair, blue eyes, and Type A blood, and was 'healthy,' according to a verbal medical interview."

Korn refused to reveal the donor's identity because he had been promised anonymity. He also refused to assure Pratten that he would preserve his donor records indefinitely. The college declined Pratten's request to take custody of the records.

As far as Hern knows, this is the only such class-action suit in the world and would extend to anyone conceived in B.C. as a result of donated sperm or eggs. He has already had calls from people who want to be included.

Other countries, including Sweden and the United Kingdom , have rescinded donor anonymity without lawsuits.

Nobody knows how many people born of donor gametes there are. Estimates range from 4,000 to 40,000 for Canada .

The province and the college have until Dec. 28 to file a response. After that, Hern will seek certification to continue as a class-action suit. If the court agrees, a trial would begin as soon as a year.

 

[katie tully]

Hahahaha, read the website. This isn't about finding medical history. This is about a bunch of test tube babies "trying to find their identity".

The mothers opting for sperm donation should consider the ramifications on their children before opting to utilise sperm donated by anonymous people.

 

[xeuyrawp]

Hahahaha, read the website. This isn't about finding medical history. This is about a bunch of test tube babies "trying to find their identity".

Case closed, imo. Part of their identity is that they don't know their biological parents - they need to accept it or choose to make it as little of importance as possible.

The mothers opting for sperm donation should consider the ramifications on their children before opting to utilise sperm donated by anonymous people.

Definitely. Maybe these people should be looking to promote / support groups for women who want a child via sperm donation and would like advice on how to best tackle that issue with the children.

That being said, if I were a woman I'd not want IVF from an anonymous donor, I'd definitely want to be as selective as possible (as we are in real life).*shrugs*

 

[Graney]

Just to throw 2c out there, we should be legally able to sell sperm, blood and organs in this country, everyone would be better off.

 

[katie tully]

Elaborate. What safeguards will ensure that those who are unable to pay will get organs?

 

[Graney]

Charity.

Personally, I'd sell one of my kidneys right now for $50'000, but I wouldn't let my family sell my organs after death, defs donate. I think a lot of people would feel this way.

There aren't nearly enough people donating as it as, anything that gets people donating organs is a great thing. Flood the market with people trying to sell their organs and the price will come down to something the majority can afford.

Set up charities that give cash assistance to help people on low incomes to purchase organs.

Anything's better than the current system where's there's just huge shortage and people die.

 

[katie tully]

I'm down as an organ donor. I don't need that shit when I'm dead.

My dad is anti organ donation, because he is a dumb dumb and cannot grasp the idea that brain dead means brain dead. Mum is pro organ donation, but seems to think he'd overide her wish. I'd try and challenge it, I'm more related to her than he is.

Pretty funny considering he was only born with one kidney and has chronic hypertension.

 

[xeuyrawp]

but I wouldn't let my family

Um... You'd generally not be able to stop them, being dead or incapacitated.

The whole problem with organ donation (or indeed anything to do with belongings after death) is that frequently the deceased's wishes aren't respected.

 

[Graney]

It's illegal to sell sperm in NSW.

Which begs the question, why the fuck would anyone bother to anonymously donate? No financial incentive and I doubt charity is a great motivator.

iirc you usually get a small sum as compensation for travel costs. I looked into donating sperm ages ago, partly to get this small sum, partly for the lols of the experience, and the lols of having my genetic spawn out there somewhere. But it was just too embarrassing and inconvenient, cbf factor, why would you do it?

 

[xeuyrawp]

why would you do it?

Because it can lower your HECS debt?

 

[katie tully]

They had some dude on 60 Minutes once, he has fathered 7 children and claims he donates sperm for purely altruistic reasons.

I say bullshit. I think these guys get motivated by knowing their potent tadpoles are populating the earth and they don't have to contribute anything other than 7 minutes in heaven. But then again, I think he was in the US so maybe he was getting paid for his magic juice.

 

[Iron]

Australia's position on organ and tissue donation is a marker of a civilized country which deems life more important than commerical profit.

Also, dponor conception is a gross distrortion of the divine plan for family. It's a highly unnatural process which further alienates individuals from others

 

[katie tully]

Hahaaha, well played good sir. I wonder if they would consider putting something like blood donation on the list of volunteer services.