In the media
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Urgent calls for Australia-wide register of sperm donations amid concerns about ‘prolific’ donors
The Guardian, 08/02/23
Experts say informal donations a ‘huge problem’ that could lead to trauma for donor conceived people who find they have dozens of half siblings
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‘Urgent’ call for sperm donation database amid incest fears
NY Post, 08/02/23
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.
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Eleni's story
DCA, 16/01/23
Dr Marisa Paterson MLA reads Eleni’s Story
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Anastasia's story
DCA, 16/01/23
Dr Marisa Paterson MLA reads Anastasia’s story
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From Adoption Deception to Donor Conception: Presentation to VANISH AGM 2022
VANISH Inc, 16/12/22
Presentation to VANISH AGM 2022 by Dr Penny Zagarelou Mackieson, author of Adoption Deception, and Dr Lauren Burns, author of Triple Helix. Presenters discuss the parallels between adoption and donor conception in policies, practice and impacts.
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How small talk at daycare led to a mother making the shocking discovery that her five children have at least 43 SIBLINGS - as she reveals fear about 'accidental incest' left her sick to her stomach
Daily Mail Australia, 01/11/2022
A mum-of-five who used donor sperm to have her children is worried about 'accidental incest' after discovering her kids have at least 43 half-siblings.
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Couples turn to private sperm donors shunning IVF clinics
The Australian, 29/10/22
‘It cost us nothing but some road tolls and a bottle of scotch’ Put off by the cost and rigours of IVF, couples desperate to start a family are bypassing clinics and turning instead to private sperm donors. But are they entering a minefield?
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'I did a DNA test for fun. It showed my dad wasn't my biological father.'
MamaMia, 18/10/22
Emily Fae has always been interested in her family’s history. During the COVID lockdowns in early 2020, when she was stuck at home with her toddler, she decided to pay for an online DNA test.
“…Six weeks later, I got my results.”
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Donor conceived children want legal right to know identity of biological fathers
ABC, 02/10/22
Evie Lucas thinks she has more than 60 siblings she has never met.
She's been searching endlessly to find them, sometimes resorting to messaging strangers online who bear a resemblance to her.
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How to balance the rights of sperm donors and the children they create
ABC News, 02/10/2022
A look at law reform underway across the country regarding donor conceived people searching for their family. Advocates are calling for retrospective laws to reveal the identities of previously anonymous donors, but some fear they would go too far.
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Elly has at least six secret siblings. She’s not allowed to know their names
The Age, 26/09/2022
Locked away in the files of a government authority are the names of several of Elly Broadbent’s secret siblings. She knows she has at least two sisters and four brothers aged in their late 20s and early 30s who were also conceived via donated sperm, but that’s all the information she is permitted.
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Nurse revealed fears of future for students involved in early fertility operation
Courier Mail, 25/06/2022
A nurse who worked at a “hole in the wall” in the car park of a pioneering Brisbane fertility clinic in the 1970s has told of some of the more sketchy practices used, including a vet being brought in to examine specimen quality.
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Eleni's donor story
ABC News Canberra, 12/06/2022
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People born from sperm donations want urgent crackdown on assisted reproductive technology industry
ABC News, 12/06/2022
Eleni McIlroy has known her whole life she was conceived through sperm donation. But when she talks about her experience, her eyes still well with tears.
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The Qld baby factory that has our top doctors fearing a knock at the door
The Courier Mail, 11/06/22
As young men, some of Queensland’s top doctors were lured into what was then a groundbreaking fertility treatment for just $10 and the promise of anonymity. Forty years later, advances in DNA science and technology mean they are now living in fear.
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Discovering you are donor-conceived
ABC Radio, 03/06/2022
At 39, Aimee Shackleton was completely overwhelmed to discover her genetic father wasn't the person she called Dad.
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Aimee Shackleton - ABC Drive interview
ABC Drive, 04/06/2022
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A long-held family secret turned my world upside-down
The Sydney Morning Herald, 24/04/2022
A disbelieving laugh stuttered from my lips as I stared at my mother sitting beside me on the couch. Her hands shook, her eyes downcast. Shock cast a distant shadow on the horizon.
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Rights of people conceived from donors under review
Brisbane Times, 24/02/2022
The rights of people conceived through donated sperm, eggs or embryos to access information on their biological parentage will be assessed by a Queensland parliamentary inquiry.
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Inconceivable: The Secret Business of Breeding Humans
SBS, 2022
Journalist Sarah Dingle goes on a journey where she digs through hospital files, chases leads, and takes a DNA test to uncover the truth about who made her and how, but the discoveries are more disturbing the deeper she delves.
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Meeting Family Later In Life
SBS, 2022
What's it like to meet your biological family later in life and what impact does the journey have on you? Presented by Kumi Taguchi.
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‘Why did I need to know who my father was?’: one woman’s battle for her biological truth
The Guardian Australia, 04/12/2021
When Lauren Burns discovered she was a donor-conceived baby, she was shocked and wounded. Then she began to fight
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‘Lies and trauma’: donor-conceived adults are still haunted by their origins
The Guardian Australia, 10/10/2021
Australia’s fertility industry has undergone seismic shifts in practice, but for those born before these changes, past mistakes feel firmly in the present.
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Babytalk - Sarah Dingle & Donor Conception
ABC Radio, 10/07/2021
Sarah’s story is a cautionary tale for parents who are considering donor conception and may give an insight into what donor conception might mean for your family…