Adam Hooper will fly from Western Australia to Brisbane this weekend to impregnate women desperate to have a baby. Hopeful mothers who ovulate during the 37-year-old’s 10-day visit will receive an instant sperm donation delivered to them in a cup. Although it is illegal in Australia to pay for donations, travel, parking or medical expenses can be reimbursed by grateful recipients. Dozens of expectant mothers are hopeful of meeting a donor as a growing number miss out on conventional clinics running low on sperm samples. Adam Hooper (pictured) will travel from Western Australia to Brisbane this weekend to impregnate just a handful of the dozens of women desperate to have a baby Mr Hooper has high hopes that his DIY tour could be the start of a tight-knit group of mothers who can bond over their children’s shared DNA. Ingrid Stefanio, from Brisbane, is 12 weeks pregnant with Mr Hooper’s baby after spending $13,000 on an unsuccessful IVF treatment. The 35-year-old told the Courier Mail that she initially connected with the donor through his Sperm Donation Australia Facebook page. The group has more than 1,500 members and matches sperm donors with singles or couples hoping to have a child. After 82 online dates that came to nothing, Ms Stefaniw took matters into her own hands and flew to Perth to collect a donation from Mr Hooper. She said she felt “safe” knowing her child would be able to contact him, as the donor gives his offspring a chance to connect with him before they turn 18. Expectant mothers who ovulate during the 37-year-old’s 10-day visit will receive an instant sperm donation delivered to them in a cup Conventionally, donor privacy is protected until children reach legal age, with their identifying information provided in government health registries. Mr Hooper, who has two children of his own and 20 donor-conceived offspring, started donating his sperm to give others the gift of raising a child. He said, unlike other donors, he was willing to be a part of the children’s lives and happy for them to have a picture of him or call him if needed. “I want the kids to feel like they know where they’re from – too many donor kids have to spend years trying to trace their fathers,” she said. The donor’s Facebook group is steadily attracting new members with the majority being single women in their 30s and 40s. Greta French-Kennedy, a yoga teacher, hopes to become pregnant with a donation from Mr Hooper after failing to conceive with a previous sperm donor. The 37-year-old said the idea of ​​being part of a group of mothers whose children shared the same father sounded “amazing”. “I like the thought that the kid can contact Adam if he wants to,” she said. Mr Hooper said Ms French-Kennedy’s donation would probably have to be exchanged at the airport due to timing. Other women who did not ovulate during the donor’s 10-day stay expressed their frustration – with Mr Hooper holding a seminar in Brisbane next weekend. One woman said while she would not profit from the tour, she hoped it would spark more conversations about private donation in Queensland. Another said it would be a “dream come true” if things worked out for Mr Hooper.
“Imagine being in a group of mothers with children having a relationship, what a beautiful idea,” she told the Courier Mail. Experts warned that unchecked donations such as Mr Hooper’s would see more women breaking the law to obtain life-changing sperm. Mr Hooper’s Facebook group Sperm Donation Australia is steadily attracting new members with the majority of the group single women in their 30s and 40s IVF Australia, New South Wales, said healthy men aged between 21 and 45 who were willing to donate sperm without payment were encouraged to provide a sample. Sperm Donor Australia said donor sperm was in “extremely short supply” due to the declining number of samples donated during the Covid-19 pandemic. While the number of donors has fallen, the number of single women and same-sex couples claiming a sample has risen, with clinics struggling to keep up with demand.
Virtus Health, Australia’s largest IVF provider, launched a campaign in May that it hoped would encourage sperm and egg donation. As there is no financial incentive for donors, many donate sperm or eggs because they have been directly affected by fertility issues.