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Federal Inquiry into

Donor Conception Practices Past & Present

inquiry

As parents of donor conceived children we all want the best for our children. Since the groups beginnings in 1993 one of our aims is to have registers which allow all donor conceived people in Australia to get access to information about their donors and half siblings. At the moment legislation varies from state to state and is inadequate & often negligent in its structure.

This year we have achieved an amazing milestone; the Federal Senate has announced (23rd June 2010) an inquiry into Donor Conception Practices Past & Present. In February we met with members of parliament from all parties & both houses thought that donor conception issues & especially the rights of donor conceived people warranted an inquiry.

An Inquiry asks for submission from any interested parties and these can form the basis of new laws.

The recommendations from this enquiry could form the basis for federal legislation that could ensure all donor offspring both past and present be treated equally.

This opportunity for all parents, donor conceived people & donors to express their wishes and help shape the future of legislation will never happen again.

Information is on the Senate website click here to be directed to the Senate website.

For more information on our website about how you can make a submission click here

Submissions may also be emailed straight to the senate inquiry as an attachment. Send to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au

The closing date for the inquiry is 30th July 2010 so there is not much time. If you want to send in a late submission this may be possible but you will need to ask the senate committee (legcon.sen@aph.gov.au).

The NSW Registers

Victorian News

The NSW Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act came into force on the 1st January 2010.

This means that from now on all clinics should be sending information about donors and births to the Register on a regular basis. People conceived from donated gametes after January the first will be able, once they are 18, to access identifying information about their donor from the Register.

For those donor conceived people already in existence there is a voluntary register. Access to information will all hinge on whether donors have placed their information on the Register.

The Register has had no advertising and information on the NSW Health website is rather hard to find but we have included a link:

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/hospitals/phc/art.asp

There is only an email address listed for communication on the Health Dept website:

artphcu@doh.health.nsw.gov.au

But the phone numbers for the Private Health Care Branch where the Registers reside are: 9424 5955 and 9424 5953

If you need more information about the Registers please contact the above or get in contact with us (see details at top of page).

On the 23rd June a motion was put by Sue Pennicuik to the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament. If you would like to read the debate on the motion go onto the Victorian Parliament website and download the Hansard for the 23rd June & look at page 18.
Here is part of an email I got from Lauren who was there on the day:
“There is a lot of talk of restorative justice for donor conceived people. I don't see why we can't go for full, retrospective access for all information that still exists. I believe that at a minimum the committee will create a register of all pre-1988 records and recommend that all DC people be allowed to apply for information about their donor, and the question is whether they will give identifying info with or without the consent of the donor. Perhaps there is a middle ground, with a place for 'no contact vetos' for donor who do not wish to be contacted, such as we see in some adoption legislation. Finally, unbelievably, the motion was agreed to unanimously by all members of the Legislative Council.”
For more information about this inquiry go to http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lawreform/inquiry/241

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Destroyed sperm donation records prevent family reunions

KIM WHEATLEY : The Advertiser June 30, 2010 8:09PM

DAMIAN Adams has welcomed the establishment of a Senate inquiry into sperm donations, although it's unlikely to assist with his lifelong ambition - to find his father.

The medical researcher, who was conceived at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 1973, will lobby for a national register, keeping proper records and greater rights for children born of donors.

But he is vehemently opposed to one of the issues being examined because of a nationwide shortage of donors - paying them money.

It still hurts him deeply to know that most donors at the time of his birth were Adelaide University medical students making some quick cash.

"It's affected me badly knowing that my father probably threw me away for what was effectively beer money," he said. "We don't pay people to donate blood or any other organs - it ends up being a commodification of human life."

All records of Mr Adams' father's identity were destroyed, yet clinics today can currently dispose of records after a specific time period, which can make it impossible to discover vital information such as health history.

The failure to keep records indefinitely riles Mr Adams, considering millions of dollars of taxpayer funding is spent on fertility treatments every year.

"Everybody else is entitled to know who their parents are but we don't," he said.

"But people from my era have sort of become second-class citizens ... you're not allowed to have access to medical history and you lose your identity, your heritage and family members."

In SA, donor offspring are able to access non-identifiable information about their genetic parent, but Mr Adams believes more information needs to be made available.

High on that list is being able to find out about siblings.

"I know of some people who have 40 or 50 siblings - but they do not know who they are - this is not pie in the sky," he said.

Mr Adams, who has two children of his own, Brydee, 6, and Angus, 4, is a member of the Donor Conception Support Group of Australia.

He is speaking at a national bioethics and health law conference in Adelaide this weekend.

Search for Donor Dads

Southern Gazette WA

09/Mar/2010

BEING asked to be a patron of a community group is part of a politician's job, but for Swan MHR Steve Irons one request was close to his heart.

Mr Irons remembers all too well the disconnection from family he felt for many years being a ward of the state and fostered when three-and-a-half.

When asked to be the patron of the Donor Conception Support Group of Australia it took him one month to consider the implications and what pushed him to agree was that he understood the disconnection donor-children felt.

Mr Irons has thrown his support behind the group's request for there to be a National Register of Donors and an inquiry into donor conception practices.

The group handed a petition to Federal Parliament late last month with 1200 signatures calling for the national register.

Members of the group made a presentation to parliament, including IVF parent Leonie |Hewitt who said her son had 29 half siblings they knew about because the donor had donated at two clinics in different states.

“A national register should be able to prevent this happening again,” Ms Hewitt told parliament.

A donor-conceived child told parliament that after having his own children he realised that his conception had lost him his kinship, heritage, identity and health history.

Mr Irons said according to a survey only 5 per cent of donors did not want their donor-conceived children to contact them.

Some donors were concerned the children would have financial claims on them, but under legislation they were not recognised as the legal father.

The national register would allow donor-children to access medical records and background history and to check if the donor was happy for contact.

“At the moment many donor-conceived individuals are unable to make contact with their biological families due to privacy laws,” Mr Irons said. “I believe every person has a right to know who their biological family is.

“As a foster child, I have spent years tracking my own family.”