Fertility Solutions international donor sperm program facilitates access to treatment for patients requiring donor sperm. Using donor can be a particularly emotional and complex treatment option. For this reason, Fertility Solutions carry out a thorough process so that the donor recipient(s) are well prepared. Fertility Solutions donor program also facilitates treatment with known or clinic recruited donors, with treatments being available at both the Bundaberg and Buderim clinics.

Fertility Solutions work with creditable international agencies to ensure that the processes and procedures followed to obtain international sperm is both ethical and compliant with Australian legislation and our clinic policies.

• All donors have genetic testing and are tested with an extended genetic panel carrier screen.
• All donors are evaluated by a counsellor accredited with the Australian and New Zealand Infertility Counsellors Association (ANZICA) to ensure that donors (and their partners if applicable), understand the full implications of being a donor, including the possibility of future contact from offspring.
• All donors have criminal background checks, medical health checks screening for communicable diseases.
• The donor’s semen must also be of a suitable quality for treatment, after it has undergone the required freezing and quarantine period.

Fertility Solutions is committed to ensuring that everyone involved makes the right decisions for themselves and their family: each person should be comfortable with those decisions in 5, 10, or 20 years. Whether you are wanting to access donor or wanting to consider donating, it is mandatory that you (and your partner if applicable), attend counselling to discuss possible current and future implications associated with the donor process.

National Guidelines and Clinic Policy

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) have Ethical Guidelines on the use of assisted reproductive technology in clinical practice and research (Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) guidelines). These guidelines are used by professional organisations to set standards for the practice of ART.  The following information has been derived from the NHMRC Ethical Guidelines (2017) and Fertility Solutions policies and is a summary of the information that all potential donor recipients should consider. Detailed information will be provided to you if you decide to proceed with our Donor Program:

• The gametes (sperm and eggs) used in Assisted Reproductive Services (ART) activities can either be provided by the person receiving treatment, their spouse or partner, or provided by a donor or donors.
• Gametes may be donated to a specific recipient who is known to the donor (‘known donation’) or to anyone who is receiving ART treatment (‘unknown donation’).
• Clinics must not accept donations from any donor who wishes to place conditions on the donation that the gametes are for the use only by individuals or couples from ethnic or social groups, or not to be used by particular ethnic or social groups. This type of donation (‘unknown directed donation’) is considered unethical on the basis that it is discriminatory and inequitable.
• Clinics must meet regulatory requirements and have policies and procedures in place to minimise transmission of infectious diseases from the donor to the recipient or the person who would be born. These policies and procedures must be constantly reviewed in light of new evidence.
• There is to be a limit to the number of families created from a single donor. Clinics must take all reasonable steps to minimise the number of families created through donated gamete treatment programs. At Fertility Solutions this number is a total of 10 families within Australia of which the donor’s family makes up one of these families.

Important Information about Becoming a Donor Recipient

To begin the process of accessing international donor sperm, the donor co-ordinator and counsellor will discuss the social, emotional and ethical aspects associated with being a recipient. We will also assist you in considering the potential implications for you and your family.   Due to a high demand for donor sperm, eggs and embryos, Fertility Solutions Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg have a policy to provide treatment firstly for local patients and then patients outside of the Wide Bay-Burnett and Sunshine Coast regions.

To assist recipient(s) through the donor process we have a dedicated donor nurse co-ordinator that will spend considerable time with you (and your partner if applicable) going through the social, emotional, legal and medical processes. If you would like to have a free initial discussion with our donor co-ordinator to discuss options of becoming a donor or recipient(s), please contact our clinic or email. No referral is required for the initial discussion. All enquiries and discussions are handled confidentially.