One of the first things that a lesbian woman or couple undergoing fertility treatment will need to do is choose a sperm donor.
Sperm donors are classified as either “known” or “unknown” depending on the type of relationship between the donor and the woman/couple.
Rainbow Fertility can assist women whichever way they choose to proceed.
Often “known” donors can be hard to find as not all friends or family members are comfortable with the idea of donating and having a child genetically linked to them.
Our clinic has “unknown” (clinic-recruited) sperm donors available (frozen sperm) who have already gone through the process of counselling, screenings, consenting and a six-month quarantine period.
Patients can also select a sperm donor with particular characteristics that are important to them.
It is important to remember that in Australia, children conceived from donor sperm have the right to access identifying information about the donor when they turn 18. In addition, only sperm donations from donors who have been counselled by Victorian counsellors can be used in Victoria.
Clinic-recruited sperm donors, however, have no legal responsibilities or rights to a child. The woman giving birth is the legal mother of any child born. The recipient couple is financially and legally responsible for the child, and they shall have full custodial and parental rights to the child.
Australia also has restrictions in place to limit the number of families that can be created from a single donor.
Find more information about “known” and “unknown” sperm donors here: Donor Program
