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Latest Surrogacy News
Sperm and egg donor kids kept in dark
Judy
Skatssoon 29 Oct 03
Herald Sun
MANY people conceived
through donor sperm or eggs have not been told the truth
about their origins, studies show.
No exact figure exists, but an estimated 20,000 babies
are believed to have been born from donated sperm or
eggs in Australia since the 1970s.
Studies also suggest
parents are botching the way that they tell their
children
Some waited until the
children have grown up, others let it out during an
argument or family break-up and some donor children
learned of their origins through a family friend or
relation.
The trends were
identified in follow-up studies reviewed by Victoria's
Infertility Treatment Authority, which regulates
infertility services and research in the state.
ITA CEO Helen Szoke
said many families still found it difficult to tell
children of their origins.
"The families are still
having difficulty actually telling the children their
birth stories -- particularly families that were
involved in donations in the '70s, '80s and early '90s,"
she said.
"The research is
telling us that parents more often tend not to tell than
to tell."
The question of how to
make it easier for parents to tell their children about
their donor origins, and other dilemmas relating to
donor treatment, will be explored at a public symposium
in Melbourne today.
Ms Szoke said couples
using donors were advised not to keep secrets.
"Certainly the
counsellors would say you can't have these secrets in
the families because there will be someone who knows,"
she said.
"If you get that
information at a later stage, when you've grown up in a
certain context, then that's pretty devastating."
Ms Szoke said a review
of donor profiles also showed the typical male donor had
changed from a young man wanting some beer money to an
older, more reflective man -- often with his own family.
"Where once it may have
been a young, fit, medical student, or a fireman, or a
policeman, now it tends to be an older fellow who may
have had children of his own already," she said.
The review also
confirmed a drop in the number of donors, with only 10
Victorian men donating sperm in 2002.
But she said this was
unlikely to be related to new Victorian laws requiring
all donors to be recorded on a central register that
provides children with a record of their origins once
they turn 18.
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