The baby-making app offering new hope to potential parents

A new baby-making app is causing excitement and concern

Damian is a healthy, middle-aged man who wants to give someone his sperm. Josie and Sally, a loving lesbian couple, may take him up on his offer. If they pass on Damian, they could check out Craig or Justin. Welcome to Just A Baby, a new Tinder-style app, where dreams of parenthood could be just a right swipe away.

Just A Baby, created by Perth developer Paul Ryan, is set to offer a new way for Australians to connect with sperm and egg donors. The idea of a Tinder-style baby-making app may have many people interested, but it also has others nervous. Ryan says Just A Baby was developed because conventional methods of babymaking are no longer conducive to actually making a baby.

“There are increasing pressures against the traditional models of raising a child and on traditional families,” Ryan says. “More and more people are having their first child over the age of 35; they are staying single longer; the lengths of relationships are shorter; and many more people are identifying as gay or lesbian.”

Just A Baby follows a similar format to Tinder, with users creating profiles telling others a little about themselves and what they are seeking. Other users can flip through the profiles and swipe right if they are interested.

“Everyone is on Tinder or dating apps,” Ryan says. “This is the way people live. But Just A Baby isn’t an app for dating or for casual sex, it is about finding someone with whom to make a baby.”

Lawyer Stephen Page, one of Australia’s leading experts in assisted reproductive law, says the app has tremendous potential for those seeking an egg donor.

“Just A Baby is the only app on the market, and whether we like it or not, these apps are going to become more common,” Page says. “Because they fulfil a need. Generally, in Australia there is a shortage of egg donors and that sees people travelling around the world for treatment. I visited one South African clinic that was treating three to five Australian couples every day, just for egg donation.

“There is a major problem with the way we regulate. Then along comes this app that says, ‘Hey, there’s a way to bypass this’.”

Marita Alexander knows the heartache of trying to find an egg donor, and believes Just A Baby could help others. Alexander and her partner met when she was approaching 40. After several years of IVF it was determined the quality and quantity of eggs would not be sufficient to create a baby, and Alexander needed to source a donor egg.

“I have some strong views about the ridiculous and insulting things we had to go through,” she says. “We were advised to advertise for an egg donor in the magazine Melbourne’s Child. When you advertise for a donor egg, you have to submit the written ad to the government for approval.”

Alexander remembers the process as demeaning and humiliating. “It’s like selling yourself,” she says. “You have to present yourself in the best possible light – some people say they are a loving couple who are financially stable. It always helped to have a hard-luck story. People don’t always have the best motives. They know how vulnerable you are and some tried to take money from us.”

Alexander and her partner eventually chose a donor from interstate. After years of IVF treatment with this donor without success, the donor became pregnant to her own husband and the process could not continue. “At that stage I was ready to give up. We were spent, financially and emotionally,” Alexander says. She didn’t know where to turn. “I could have asked my sister for her eggs, but she is four years younger than me – there would not have been much difference.”

Eventually, after 10 years of IVF treatment, a family member offered her eggs and Alexander and her partner are now parents of a gorgeous two-year-old girl. Although filled with happiness, Alexander remembers the painful journey well. “I think if Just A Baby makes the process easier, it has to be a good thing.”

While Just A Baby may offer more options, some argue it has the potential to create other complications. “The problem with any sort of artificial conception is that you have to deal with the law,” Page says. “In Australia, we have eight systems that create IVF laws. Victoria has five regulators, which I believe is a world record.” Page says there is more to entering into a private donor arrangement with someone you meet on an app than simply writing up an agreement. “Recently a client contacted me. He was a gay guy who was approached by a single woman to become a sperm donor and he was intending to have sex with her to create that baby,” Page says. “I told him I was about to save him hundreds of thousands of dollars in child support.”

It turns out, no matter what the agreement, if a man has sex with a woman and a child is conceived, in the eyes of the law he is Dad. Page cites one case that played out in a Melbourne court. A child was conceived through sexual intercourse with the understanding the man would be purely a donor. That changed when the man decided he did want to be Dad.

It went to court and the court ruled that, though the mother had never wanted him to be, the man was the child’s father and had all the parental rights and responsibilities that entailed.

Even if everyone involved agrees on the donor scenario, Page says unexpected problems can rear their heads later on.

“There was another case in Melbourne where a man became a donor to a lesbian couple and the baby was conceived by having sex,” he says. “Everyone agreed he wasn’t going to be the father; he was just a donor. Years later, the couple split up and the biological mother went to Centrelink and was told she couldn’t get benefits unless she pursued the father for child support.”

Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) chief executive Louise Johnson believes using a “baby app” to enter into a donor or surrogate arrangement might not just cost you money, it could land you on the wrong side of the law.

“There is the potential to inadvertently breach the law when using apps such as Just a Baby, which are created, in part, to match individuals with sperm, egg and embryo donors,” she says.

It is illegal throughout Australia to pay an egg or sperm donor anything more than what is considered reasonable expenses – or for a donor to accept payment above this amount. The law is even more specific and restrictive on surrogacy. All this, says Johnson, puts users of baby apps at considerable legal risk.

Dr Stephen Bradford, fertility specialist with TasIVF cautions locals considering using an app such as Just A Baby and encourages any potential recipient or donor of eggs, sperm or embryos to ensure they are fully aware of the legal and broader ethical considerations around such arrangements.

“We care for many Tasmanians needing to use donated eggs, sperm or embryos for medical or in fact social reasons to create their family,” Dr Bradford says. “People considering using donated gametes are often in a vulnerable position, coping with the medical situation and emotional impact this may have on their desire to have their family. Without guidance of experienced fertility medical practitioners and counsellors who manage issues around donation of gametes on a daily basis, people may put themselves in a compromising position.

“Ultimately the resulting child is at the centre of the compulsory counselling that needs to occur for recipients and donors of eggs, sperm and embryos.”

Dr Bradford says that though Tasmania needs a constant flow of sperm and egg donations to help people start families, regulation and a deep understanding of all implications is imperative. “We encourage anyone interested to talk with our team to understand the medical, emotional, ethical and legal situation so wellinformed decisions can be made.”

For Gail Pascoe, mother of a six-year-old daughter conceived using donor sperm, the security that comes with knowing all the legals are taken care of is one reason she chose to go with a clinic rather than a private arrangement using a matching website. At the time she wanted to conceive, single women and lesbians were not lawfully permitted to access donor programs at Victorian IVF clinics unless they were medically infertile. Instead of entering into a private arrangement, Pascoe, who is writing a book about donor conception, used sperm from a US sperm bank. “For me, it was all about managing the risk,” she says. Ryan argues Just A Baby, which was developed under the guidance of a family lawyer, exists entirely within the boundaries of the law. “We are not advertising; we are a private community; nothing is for sale,” he says.

Ryan says there will always be irresponsible people, but that doesn’t make the app irresponsible. “It’s a no-brainer,” he says. “You meet someone on the app, someone you like, with whom you have a warm connection, and then you go to your lawyer for legal advice before you try conception.”

Just A Baby isn’t a fertility clinic, he argues. It’s a way of connecting with others.