Sperm Donation Overview
IVFAustralia provides a sperm donor program where the donor is either a known donor (where the donor is known to the recipient) or a de-identified donor (where the identify of the donor is not known to the recipient but details will be made available for later access by the offspring once they reach 18 years of age).
Accessing De-Identified Donor Sperm
At IVFAustralia we offer treatment with donor sperm to heterosexual couples, single women and couples in a same sex relationship.
The process:
The first step is a consultation with a fertility specialist who will discuss the process, assess the health of the couple, and arrange any preliminary testing that is needed.
If donor insemination is the right method of treatment, the couple (or single women if applicable) will then need to meet with a counsellor and discuss the long term implications of treatment using donated sperm.
At this point you will be registered on the donor programme and once counseling is complete, you will see your fertility specialist again to plan treatment. The next step is to chose a donor that will be suitable for you.
You will be given access to our password protected sperm donor programme website. This site holds a database of all the donors that are currently available to choose from.
You will be able to view questionnaires that have been completed by the donors about themselves and their family. Once you have decided on a donor and liaised with our donor manager to confirm the donation you will be ready to commence your cycle with your fertility specialist.
Using donor sperm from overseas
IVFAustralia has always maintained a high calibre of locally recruited donors, to supplement our local Australian donors we can provide patients with access to both Australian and international donors. IVFAustralia has an agreement with an overseas clinic to allow our patients to access overseas recruited donors as well.
This arrangement meets Australia’s highest ethical standards. This arrangement meets Australia’s highest ethical standards. The recruitment and counselling process for clinic-recruited donors complies fully with the national ethical standards set out by the Australian Health Ethics Committee of the National Health and Medical Resource Council (NHMRC), and the requirements of the 2007 NSW Assisted Reproductive Technology Act, and 2009 Regulations for this Act.
The sperm donors are all altruistic donors who have given informed consent to future contact with people conceived from their donation and have undertaken to maintain future contact. The number of families created using any one donor’s sperm donation will be strictly limited to four.
What’s the difference between American and Australian donors
The American donors are recruited for us by an agency based in Seattle. Accordingly, the recruitment expenses are higher for an American donor than for an Australian donor.
However, the US donors are all still participating on the same ethical basis as the Australian donors. In other words, there is no payment of donors other than reasonable expenses. The same limit on the number of families created still applies and American donors will, like the Australian donors, release their identifying information to be available to the children later.
The access fees on top of each cycle you use donor sperm are:
¥ American Donor access fee - $850.00
¥ Australian Donor access fee $375.00.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about our current donors please contact our Donor Program Manager at donorsupport@ivf.com.au.
As a patient of IVFAustralia you will be given access to a secure website that provides details of the donor profiles for your consideration and selection. You will be able to view questionnaires written by our donor about them and their families.
How does sperm donation work?
All our donors, whether they are recruited locally or from overseas, undergo rigorous preparation for donation, including:
Medical Screening: Thorough medical history, including family and genetic history; tests for HIV, Hepatitis B & C, HTLV I & II, Syphilis, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Chromosomes, blood group, Rhesus antibodies and full blood count.
Genetic testing: performed to screen for cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, and others depending on ethnic background.
Quarantine: All donors sperm is quarantined for 3 to 6 months, and donors are re-screened for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, HTLV I & II and syphilis prior to release for treatment.
Counselling: donors and their partners spend time with our counsellors to consider the legal, psychological and implications of donation. All donors consent to have their identifying information entered to the NSW Central Donor Register, so children born from donation can access it once they turn 18.
Family Limit: All donors are only able to help create five families worldwide. As we reserve one family for our donor, we can only allow four women access to a donor at any time.
Once the donor sperm is released from quarantine, the recipient’s eggs can then be fertilised using either IUI (interuterine insemination) or treatment with ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection).
Legal Considerations:
Sperm from one donor can be used to create a maximum of five families, including the donor's own family, under legislation in force from 1 January 2010. IVFAustralia currently aims to provide enough sperm from one donor for a family so that if siblings are desired they have the same biological father.
All donors are required to consent to identifying details about themselves being forwarded to the NSW Health Central ART Donor Register kept by the New South Wales Department of Health. These details can be passed on to children resulting from the donation when they reach 18 years of age.
For further information, please contact our Donor Program Manager at donorsupport@ivf.com.au.
Who can be a sperm donor?
Healthy men aged between 25 and 50 can donate directly to Hunter IVF as a sperm donor. If you have a relative or friend who can donate and is over 50, we can make exceptions to this age limit.
For further information, please click on the IVFAustralia's Patient Information Booklets below.
Known Sperm Donation De identified Sperm Donation
or contact us regarding becoming a sperm donor or recipient.