Overdue for a donor register in Queensland

For people conceived through egg, sperm or embryo donation in Queensland, there is still no central register which supports them to make linkages to their donors.  This is particaulry important for people conceived prior to 2003 when the guidelines for donor treatment set by the Fertility Society of Australia finally required that donor disclosure be facilitated for all donor conceived people.

This recent article about Danica, a Sunshine Coast woman really illustrates the pain the eventuates for donor conceived people who struggle to make their donor links.  A donor register in Queensland (or even better, a nationally based register) would certainly help people like Danica to make these links. https://m.caboolturenews.com.au/news/coast-woman-in-search-of-her-biological-dad-no11/3174681/

Danica said for her, being donor conceived it was a “part of who I am”.  It never really bothered her growing up knowing she didn’t know much about half of her genetic make-up.  But her curiosity “peaked” when she was pregnant.

“I hoped my child would look like someone I know,” she said.

She began a tentative search for her donor, going to the South Australian Queen Elizabeth hospital where she was born, but all she found was obstacles along the way.  Because she was conceived in 1980, donors could be anonymous and the paperwork kept by clinics and hospitals was sketchy.

Danica’s mum made Freedom of Information requests for her medical records and Danica was able to find her donor number.  But because it was handwritten in a doctor’s poor handwriting she was not sure if it was NO11 or NU11.  All her mum knew about the man who would give her the gift of a child was that “he looked something like my dad”.