Secrets We Keep

• By Any Means - Episode 5 - The Surrogacy Sisterhood

  Surrogacy is the pointy end of the fertility industry – the last resort for conceiving babies that are genetically linked to their parents. In Australia, the only legal option for surrogacy is via someone offering to carry a baby altruistically. Who are these women who are happy to carry a baby for a stranger? Amelia sends Senior Producer Claudianna Blanco to Tasmania for the Surrogacy Sisterhood retreat – a first for any Australian journalist. Then, we meet a couple risking it all to undertake commercial international surrogacy in Latin America. And ask the question – how can you trust a clinic is doing the right thing abroad? Don't want to wait until next week? Episode 6 is available now on the LiSTNR app. If you would like to get in touch email [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• By Any Means - Episode 4 - Magic Potion

  You’ve heard the mistakes the fertility industry has made – so it’s no surprise some people are offering another option. In this episode, Amelia Oberhardt dives into the ‘known donor’ movement, of men offering their sperm on Facebook. Is it better than using sperm sourced through a fertility clinic? And is an unregulated environment of sperm donation really the best solution? If you can't wait to listen to the next episode, you can find all episodes of By Any Means for free on the LiSTNR app. Listen to Episode 5 now. If you want to get in touch, email [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• By Any Means - Episode 3 - 700 Siblings

  Systemic secrecy and loose record-keeping in the early days of IVF is coming to light, and it's clear that some sperm donors were abusing the system. In this episode, Amelia hears from adult donor-conceived people whose lives have been altered because of secrecy and negligence. From people finding out they have an unknown large number of siblings, to inherited health conditions, and the anguish of not knowing your medical history. If you don't want to wait for the next episode, all episodes of By Any Means are available for free on the LiSTNR app. Listen to Episode 4 now. If you know more, or want to share your story, email [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• By Any Means - Episode 2 - Russellpalooza

  In the early 2000s, the advent of DNA test kits opens the Pandora’s Box of conception secrets. As the identities of many previously anonymous sperm donors are suddenly revealed, their biological children’s lives are upended upon learning the truth about how they’d been conceived. Amelia speaks to Darren, a medical student who’d donated his sperm anonymously in the 1980s, and Guy, a man who found out in adulthood he had been conceived with anonymous donor sperm, following Victoria’s decision to become the first state in Australia to establish a registry for donor-conceived children. Every episode of By Any Means is available exclusively on the LiSTNR app. You can listen to Episode 3 now. If you want to get in touch email [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• By Any Means - Episode 1 - That Infertility Feeling

  An intriguing email propels journalist Amelia Oberhardt to investigate the fertility industry in Australia, its history and methods, and the outcomes for the children born during the early days of IVF – when secrecy around conception and anonymous sperm donation was the norm. Amelia’s starting point is her best friend’s mother – one of the first women to go through infertility treatment in Queensland and successfully give birth to one of the state’s first ‘test tube babies’. Amelia speaks to the doctors who pioneered IVF in Australia, to understand the thinking behind the fertility industry’s early choice of persuading their patients to keep the truth of conception secret from the children born from anonymous sperm donations. You can listen to all episodes of By Any Means now on the LiSTNR app. If you want to get in touch, email [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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