When simpler fertility treatments aren’t enough or when conceiving seems impossible altogether, donor conception or surrogacy could be your next step.
Donor conception uses donated eggs or sperm to help you build your family. Surrogacy involves another woman carrying the baby for you. Both are third‑party assisted reproductive technology (ART) options designed for when other paths are not viable.
Dr Ritu will guide you through your fertility journey, assess your unique challenges, and help you understand when these important next steps are truly necessary.
Donor conception is when a person or a couple have a baby using donated sperm, eggs or embryos through in vitro fertilisation (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or intrauterine insemination (IUI). Effectively, the genetic material used to create a baby comes from someone other than the intended parent or parents.
This procedure is needed when someone cannot use their own eggs or sperm to conceive, their eggs or sperm are unlikely to result in pregnancy, there’s a high risk of passing on a genetic condition or after repeated unsuccessful attempts at IVF or other treatments.
It’s also considered by people who want a biological child using their own DNA but cannot achieve parenthood via conventional pathways, including:
Following a deep dive into your fertility profile, Dr Ritu will help you understand your options, choose the best route and outline the steps needed to fall pregnant using donor conception:
Donor sperm is used when sperm is needed from someone other than the intended father or partner. The donated sperm is screened, prepared, and then used in treatment such as IUI, IVF, or ICSI depending on your circumstances and the quality of the sperm.
Donor eggs are used when eggs are needed from someone other than the intended mother or partner. The donor’s eggs are collected, fertilised with sperm in the laboratory through ICSI, and the resulting embryos are transferred into the recipient’s uterus.
Donor embryo treatment uses an embryo that has already been created by another individual or couple and donated for someone else to use. Once the embryo is selected and prepared, it is transferred into the recipient’s uterus in a procedure similar to an embryo transfer.
ART clinics in South Australia are governed by three key laws:
This legal framework balances the child’s rights to know, the parents’ rights to family security and the donor’s right to privacy and clarity about their role.
Surrogacy is when another woman carries and gives birth to a baby, then gives the child to the intended parents after birth.
The most common type is gestational surrogacy, where the surrogate has no genetic link to the baby. An embryo is created via IVF or ICSI using the intended parents’ or a donor’s egg or sperm, then transferred into the surrogate’s uterus for her to carry and deliver.
In traditional (straight) surrogacy, the baby’s biological mother is the surrogate herself, meaning her own egg is used and she is inseminated with the intended father’s sperm (or donor sperm). She carries the pregnancy to full term and then gives the child to the intended parents.
Surrogacy is used when a woman cannot safely or successfully carry a pregnancy to full term:
Surrogacy may also be used by same-sex male couples or single men pursuing solo fatherhood.
In Australia, surrogacy is altruistic, regulated and varies by state. The intended parents need to be eligible for surrogacy which means they must have a medical or social reason to use this type of ART.
The process of having a child through surrogacy can be lengthy:
