There are urgent calls for a national sperm donation database to be set up in Australia amid fears that “prolific donors” could be raising the risk of “accidental incest” in the country.
At present, Australia’s six states and two territories have their own rules regarding sperm donation, according to the Guardian, but there is no “consistent national system” to keep tabs on those with a fetish for fertilization cross-country.
Aimee Shackleton, the director of Donor Conceived Australia, told the publication that there have been cases of people finding out they had numerous half-siblings in multiple other states.
“Sperm was transferred across states in Australia and, once it leaves a state, nobody keeps records of what happens to it,” she told the publication. “When donor-conceived people find out they have that many siblings, it is very distressing.”
At present, most states allow Down Under donors to provide sperm to “5 or 10 families,” but there is no law legitimately prohibiting a donor from doing that in multiple states.
Thus, Shackleton says “it’s possible” for a donor-conceived person to discover that they had 10 siblings in their own state, before later learning via an ancestry website that they had “another nine in [the state of] New South Wales and another seven in [the state of] South Australia.”
Informal sperm donation — which has exploded in popularity via the internet — could further fuel those numbers.
Last year, an Aussie man with the need to seed hit headlines after traveling cross-country on a “baby-making tour.”
The prolific donor claimed he would offer up his specimen in a cup to willing women who were ovulating.
While it’s not illegal in Australia, unregulated donation is not recommended by doctors or surrogacy experts, as it’s difficult to know if donors are following the rules.
Doctors encourage those seeking sperm to go through official channels where donors are not allowed to be anonymous and must truthfully reveal their family medical history.
Similarly, there is no national database for sperm donors in the US, which has also fueled fears of accidental incest — although the population of America is more than 10 times that of Australia, meaning the chances are far less likely.
However, back in 2017, The Post called for a regulation of sperm donors, saying: “The large numbers of offspring conceived with the help of sperm donors is sparking fear that half-siblings could mistakenly have sexual relations with each other, without knowing their true connection.”