Using Donor Sperm
as a Same Sex Couple
ivf.com.au | 1800 111 IVF
IVFAustralia is an experienced
fertility clinic providing a
comprehensive and supportive
donor program to assist couples
in a same sex relationship to start
their family.
IVFAustralia has extensive experience in helping create families through
our donor program. We are experienced at supporting people wanting to
become parents. We counsel our donors very carefully about the longterm implications of their donation because, at the heart of our program,
there is a focus on your child’s future health and wellbeing.
We provide treatment with either known or de-identified sperm donors
that may have been recruited via our clinic. Any donors used at
IVFAustralia will have undergone thorough medical assessment, detailed
genetic testing and extended counselling (including the donors’ partners)
to consider the long-term implications of being a sperm donor. We are
extremely careful about who we accept as sperm donors in our program
as not every potential donor will meet our strict medical and
psychological criteria.
We regard the interests of your future child as paramount. In the past, truly
anonymous sperm donation was undertaken and we now know from the
experience of the children conceived that this is not in the best interests of
the child. Many children conceived from previous anonymous sperm donation
programs experienced a deep sense of loss as a consequence of being
unable to access any information about their biological father. It is critical
to us that everyone involved in a donor conceived family is as completely
prepared as possible.
Today we work hard to ensure our donors comply with the very strict limit
of only creating four families worldwide, in addition to their own, to ensure
there is no chance of a consanguineous relationship between siblings.
All sperm donors are now required under NSW legislation to make their
identity available to the children conceived from the sperm donation when
they reach 18 years of age. The donor must also give written informed
consent to his name being included on the NSW Central ART Donor Registry.
This ensures that the donors’ identities are recorded and are only able to help
create five families (their own plus four others).
Sib-links
IVFAustralia has developed a unique information exchange system called
Donor Sib-Links for our patients. This system provides families, who have
used our donor programs, the opportunity (through voluntary sharing of
information) to have contact with their half-siblings conceived through the
same donor.
In addition, all of our families are provided, on request, with the month
of birth and gender of all of their half-siblings. In this way, you can have
confidence that your child will not, in the future, enter into an accidental
relationship with a half-sibling.
Supporting same sex couples
Many same-sex couples wish to use one donor to have their family and at
IVFAustralia we are very happy to assist you in both using the same donor
if you wish.
Although you are coming for treatment as a couple and plan to raise the
children as one family, the current NSW legislation unfortunately defines each
woman as a separate family. This means that if you choose the same donor
you will require two of the donor’s available family allocations.
You should inform your specialist that you wish to both use the same donor.
You will both be required to join the waitlist for donor sperm and would both
need to pay the non-refundable registration fee.
We understand that usually both partners do not plan to undergo treatment
at the same time. It is, however, important that you both join the program
together and can have the opportunity to choose one donor that is suitable
for both of you, if that is your wish.
Egg-sharing
Alternatively, a number of same-sex couples choose to egg-share. In
other words, the eggs of one partner are used in an IVF cycle to create
embryos that are then transferred into the other partner with the effect
that one partner is the birth mother and the other partner is the genetic
parent. For many couples, this is a beautiful process that allows them to
have a family to which both parents have a unique linkage to the child.
At IVFAustralia, we have established a process for facilitating this,
through an arrangement that is quite different from egg ‘donation’.
Do ask our team to help you with this.
Why is there a waitlist for donor sperm?
Sperm donation is an altruistic gift. Other than legitimate expenses
incurred in making the donation, there is no financial payment to sperm
donors and our donors donate sperm simply to help others have their
family. The implications of being a sperm donor are, however, complex
and this can make it difficult for us to find enough donors to meet the
growing demand.
For these reasons our sperm donor wait list varies in length from time to
time and it is best that you talk with our donor team to understand the
possible length it may take to access donor sperm for the treatment that
is right for you.
Which treatment is best?
Many couples that attend our clinics do not have any fertility problems
and wish to access the mildest most natural form of fertility treatment.
This treatment is called an intrauterine insemination, IUI for short. An
IUI procedure is very simple and following the monitoring of your cycle
with some blood and ultrasound tests the sperm is placed in the uterus
via a small tube just prior to ovulation. Sometimes, fertility drugs may
be used to stimulate release of more than one egg to increase chance
of pregnancy in the lead up to ovulation. The actual treatment itself
takes about 5-10 minutes. While the success rate is better than natural
conception an average 30 year old could expect a 20% chance of
pregnancy after one IUI treatment.
Unfortunately, sperm quality and quantity varies amongst donors and
not all sperm can be used for an IUI procedure. As a result only the best
sperm is suitable for an IUI procedure. At present we have a limited
number of donors suitable for IUI treatment and many people waiting.
This means that if as a couple you wish to use the same donor for an IUI
procedure there may be a longer wait. If the waiting time is a significant
issue then you may like to consider alternatives such as using IVF to
conceive where there is a higher success rate or each partner could
choose to use a different donor. There are more donors available that
are suitable for IVF so it will be easier to access the same donor.
When one partner begins treatment we will then reserve the donor for
the other partner while treatment continues and during the pregnancy.
There is no fee to hold the donor place for your partner at this time.
IVF is a treatment where higher doses of fertility medications are used
to cause a larger number of eggs to grow (usually 5-10). These eggs
are collected from your body and joined with the donated sperm in
the laboratory via intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) where an
individual sperm is injected directly in to the egg. This increases the
chance of fertilisation and enables the development of an embryo for
3-5 days in the laboratory before being transferred back to the woman.
The embryo transfer is undertaken in our clinic and is normally a simple
procedure taking 10-15minutes.
While IVF is a more intense and more expensive form of treatment it
carries a significantly higher pregnancy rate than artificial insemination
(IUI). An average 30 year old could expect up to a 40-50% chance of
pregnancy success following an IVF (ICSI) treatment cycle.
How do we choose our donor?
Once you have undergone the compulsory counselling and are ready to
select a donor you will be given access to the secure IVFAustralia donor
website where detailed profiles of our donors are available for you.
There is also a photograph of the donor as a toddler and often a message
from the donor about why they have decided to make this altruistic gift.
Our donors are based in either Australia or the US. Because of the
higher expenses involved in recruiting an American donor, the access
charge per donor is also higher. The arrangements for storing sperm
for future children are also different between Australian and US donors.
However, apart from this there is little difference in the donors and you
should choose the donor whose profile is most consistent with your needs.
Costs
Medicare will only provide a rebate for fertility treatment if there is a
medical problem present. It is recommended that you consult a fertility
specialist for full investigation to understand if you are eligible for a
rebate and to understand the fertility treatment costs (either IUI or IVF/
ICSI).
Details of the costs for different types of fertility treatment are available
on our website ivf.com.au
In addition to the costs of fertility treatments, there are expenses
involved in the preparation of sperm donors.
If you are using your own, known sperm donor, the expenses for
preparing your donor includes counselling for the donor, sperm
testing, genetic testing, freezing of the first donation and storage of the
donation for the first six months.
If you are using de-identified sperm provided by us, you will be charged
an access charge, to cover the expenses involved in preparing the
donor, each time you access that donor’s sperm. The access fee is
higher for an American donor than for an Australian donor. Please ask
our Donor Team for details on 1800 111 IVF (483).
Why should I go through a professional
fertility clinic rather than doing it myself?
There is no reason why you cannot proceed with self-insemination.
However, in making your decision, you should consider the following.
•Infection risk of the donation: At IVFAustralia, we protect your safety
by ensuring that all sperm donors are thoroughly screened and
quarantined before being released for treatment
•Security of the identification and records. At IVFAustralia, we ensure
that all donations are carefully recorded and that all donors are
counselled about the long term implications of future contact. This
allows you be certain about the information and access that your
child will have, if they request it, to their biological antecedents.
If you have any questions please contact the donor team or one of our
clinic counsellors ivf.com.au or 1800 111 483. IVFAustralia is here to
support you and your family with counselling and advice about all the
issues that may lie ahead.
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