Understanding donor conception

Donor conception explained

What is donor conception?

Donor conception is the process of having a baby using donated sperm, eggs or embryos through self-insemination or fertility treatment such as IVF. Sometimes it involves surrogacy, too. Donor conception involves a donor (the person donating sperm, eggs or an embryo) and recipient parent(s) who receive the donation. A child born as a result of the donation is known as a donor-conceived person.

There are legal consequences that result from using donated eggs, donated sperm or donated embryos. Donors, recipients and donor-conceived people all have legal rights and responsibilities under Victorian legislation. For example:

• Donors are limited to donating to 10 women including any partner or former partner of the donor.
• The treating fertility clinic is required to keep specific information about those linked through donor conception, and must report all births involving donor procedures to VARTA.
• Recipient parent(s) will be identified as the legal parents of a donor-conceived child.
• A donor is not a legal parent of a donor-conceived child. They have no legal rights or obligations to the child born as a result of their donation, or to the parent(s).
• All children born after 1 January 2010 will receive notification that the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages holds additional information about their birth when they apply for their birth certificate.
• VARTA’s donor conception registers record details of donors, recipient parents and their children, including both identifying and non-identifying information. Donor-conceived people have the right to apply for identifying information about their donor at 18 years of age - or younger if a counsellor gives approval.
• Anonymous donation is not possible in Australia.