FRIEND 1: Oh, my gosh! That is a very healthy heartbeat.
SONOGRAPHER: Your dates tell me that you're supposed to be 20 weeks, four days.
REPORTER: After years of hoping, Hayley Chapman's dream is becoming reality.
HAYLEY CHAPMAN: Oh, my gosh! FRIEND 1: Oh, it's the top of the head.
FRIEND 1: Oh, my gosh! FRIEND 2: It's camera-shy.
HAYLEY CHAPMAN: So you would tell me in this scan if there was anything wrong, right? Like,
this is where we would find anything that? Yeah.
(A knock at the door to the scanning room) Come in
Hello. Am I intruding? Come and join the party.
Oh, my gosh!
So how did you meet the person that provided
the other half of this equation? Yeah, you know, a crazy story: on the internet.
I was very cautious. I wasn't really sure if that was a path. I wasn't sure of the types
of people. Because in my mind, what sort of person wants
to give away their sperm for free on the internet? You know, like, who? Why? What's their deal?
What are they about? It seemed crazy to me. But it also made perfect sense.
Single at 40, Hayley Chapman had already spent
$10,000 on unsuccessful fertility treatments.
I just felt like I was just another number
in a system: "Here is your cash." And you know, they're nice. People are nice, everyone
is nice. You know, it's not that at all. But at that point too, again, I was looking
for something different. I wanted more connection and it just lacked that. And that was my IVF experience.
Turning her back on Australia's $500 million
fertility industry, she set out to meet her sperm donor on the internet's "wild west."
One thousand, six hundred members on this closed Facebook page openly schedule their
fertility cycles, spruik their genetic suitability and negotiate levels of future contact between them.
Informal male sperm donors still like to keep
a level of anonymity. Of course, they do meet the women they eventually donate to.
One donor in Perth, who runs Australia's largest online sperm marketplace, has agreed to talk
to me on the condition of anonymity.
SPERM DONOR: Oh, look, I'm just: yeah, an
everyday guy that's married: happily married. Wife approves of me doing this. And I've got
two children myself, so it's pretty good to know what you're passing on.
I believe fresh is best than frozen. And you know, if you want to give your child the best
chance in life, fresh would be the way to go.
PETER ILLINGWORTH, ASSOC. PROFESSOR, IVF AUSTRALIA: Come on. Let me show you where the
sperm tanks are placed. Come on here.
But IVF Australia says the online method is
making would-be mums and dads vulnerable for a whole range of reasons.
The reason for freezing sperm is to quarantine it; to ensure that the donor of the sperm
can be retested for HIV and hepatitis and other infections.
We have also had a number of examples of donors that we have known that we have rejected,
because they have been less than truthful with us. And we find these same donors appearing
on the internet.
So can you say for the children that this
sperm goes to create: in 18 years' time, they will know who donated it?
All the children have to know by law. There is no protection of a register for home insemination.
The Family Law Court has recently made rulings on home insemination which favour the right
of the donor in the child's life.
JENNI MILLBANK, PROFESSOR, REPRODUCTION LAWYER: Over the years I have had a number of
harrowing personal stories related to me by people who have been caught up in litigation or
lawyers who have called me for advice. And almost
always, these are cases where people knew each other very slightly or not at all.
ANNOUNCER (video): Just a Baby is a world-first app, connecting people...
And yet one start-up is hoping to capitalise on the growing market wanting less anonymity.
Then start swiping to find the right match. When you match with another...
With 40,000 users, its Australian co-founder, Paul Ryan, hopes to build in verification
and fertility services which the Facebook pages aren't currently providing.
PAUL RYAN, CO-FOUNDER, JUST A BABY: So here we have got a sperm donor who is 21 kilometres
away, who is ready to go right now. Right now?
Yeah. And here we have got a lady with eggs and a womb. And she is looking for a donor.
And she's five kilometres away and she's ready to go right now.
So these two people could easily just match up?
Match up and start chatting, if they haven't already started.
And make a baby? That's right.
I think we're just in its infancy at the moment. We're not making babies online per se.
People do that at home. We're just helping people meet each other.
So you believe the social contract is stronger than the legal one in this case?
The big thing about going down this path is trust: number one. And I think that in any
case: if you're dating someone, you're hoping that they are the person that they say that
they are; and they don't have another family or whatever. And that's: you know, that's
a whole other story. But you have to take people on their word. And at first...
So there's a risk: a slight risk, do you think? Life is a risk.
How well do you know this person? And how clear are you about your mutual expectations?
So if you wouldn't go on a holiday with them for a week, if you wouldn't lend them your
car, don't have a baby with them.
How do you know that your donor daddy isn't
a deadbeat? You don't know much about him?
I know more than I let on. I know a lot about
him. We're actually really good friends. And that's the interesting thing: we did it backwards.
We created a baby and then became friends.
Today Hayley is sharing the good news with
her best friend's daughter, Josie.
I'm having a baby.
JOSIE (gasps): Oh, my goodness. Really? Yeah.
Oh, my goodness. Aunty Josie!
Oh, my goodness! Yay!
And even over-sharing in the social media age has its limits.
So do you want to know what I'm having?
Yeah, I'm not going to tell you.
Oh! (Laugh)