DONOR CONCEPTION FOR SAMESEX COUPLES IN NEW ZEALAND

In New Zealand donor legislation is the same across all cities, under the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004 (HART), the law that governs sperm, egg or embryo donation along with all assisted reproductive technology (ART) processes.

The two main requirements for donation are that: a) the donor legally cannot get paid, but clinics do compensate for some out-of-pocket expenses and b) if you opt to be a donor, you must provide identifiable information like your address, full name, date of birth and National Health Index (NHI) number, to the fertility clinic, and this information will be included on the official Register for births, deaths and marriages, if a child is born from your donation. Recording the information on the register means the donor-conceived person can access this information when they turn 18.

Dr Devashana Gupta, medical director of Repromed Auckland fertility clinic, says parents who conceive via sperm donation can seek to acquire donor identifiability information at any time and can ask permission to connect with the donor or even to connect with other families created from the same donor, known as family linking, with the mutual consent of all parties involved.

Potential donors must undergo two rounds of implications counselling and complete various genetic and health checks before they are deemed suitable to donate. “Clinics can use sperm or eggs from the same donor to produce a maximum of 10 families, but all clinics have mutually opted to limit this to five families,” says Dr Gupta.

The non-identifiable donor profile used for donor selection can include a childhood image, has their height, eye colour, age, education, work experience and their goals and aspirations amongst other information.

If you become pregnant with donor egg, donor sperm, or both, you’re automatically a legal parent of the child you’re carrying. Your partner, of any gender, is also a legal parent of the child. The donor is legally not a parent.

There are currently an estimated 1,479 same-sex families in New Zealand.

In terms of overseas sperm donation, Dr Gupta says any gamete used must fulfil the HART Act requirements of ability to identify genetic origins for the child and non-compensation. “Therefore, given most overseas banks normally would not fulfil this criterion, it’s not usually an option. This is not to say that clients cannot seek out these options themselves.”

According to Dr Gupta, payment for donor intrauterine insemination (IUI) can cost around NZ$1,500-$3,000 per cycle of donor insemination.

“For in vitro fertilisation (IVF) the initial cycle can cost NZ$12,000-$15,000 and then NZ$2,500 per frozen embryo transfer cycle after that,” she says.

“Same-sex couples are entitled to public funding after 12 unsuccessful donor IUI rounds on the condition that six rounds were completed in an accredited fertility clinic.

“IVF public funding is available to couples once eligible for funded treatment whereby two cycles of IVF can be utilised depending on outcome of live birth.”

Dr Gupta says the waiting time for unknown or clinic sperm donation is minimum 12 months and maximum two years depending on the clinic.