Sperm donor plans to father 2500 children | 60 Minutes Australia

at first sight the man you're about to meet appears as a knight in shining armor he offers hope to people desperate to have babies but it's not long before he starts to lose his gloss a clue is the name he goes by Joe Dona travels the world impregnating any woman who'll have him anyway they'll have him and his proud boast is he's already fathered more than 100 children Australia is his latest stopover but instead of welcoming his helping hand fertility experts here warn that Joe doner is a dangerous public health risk with very questionable motives this man is on a mission you'll find hard to believe [Music] I'm basically only having sex to get women pregnant you know I'm not you know chasing rainbows fantasies his life's work is to get as many women pregnant as he possibly can I've seen I guess ages all the way from 20s up in their 40s to create hundreds perhaps thousands of children in his image like some people they want to do the background check drug tests and I'm like you know you're not giving me the keys to the nuclear missiles you know we're just making a baby and to hell with the consequences I just think he's mad and dangerous and these women shouldn't be going anywhere he calls himself Joe Dona a self-styled international sperm donor and he's in Australia [Music] it's Tuesday January the 8th at norborne Airport and 29 year-old Shani is waiting to greet Joe Dona he's flying in from Santiago Chile and Shani will be one of the first of more than a dozen women Joe has agreed to help on his tour down under when he walked out the door into the arrivals lounge your first thought was what he's very short this soft promoting American miracle maker appears very much your average Joe this is a man who claims to have fathered more than a hundred children that plans to create many more with mothers who have no idea who he really is you don't use your real name no but BC this is the thing is what you want is you want a pregnancy you don't want to write an autobiography the smart talking Joe donor brooms with confidence but things change when he's challenged about his unsafe practices you could be infected right now and not not isn't that correct no you could be infected and not know it I'm talking about you Joe I'm not donating you are much about Joe donor is shadowy he operates anonymously promoting himself on Facebook to women all over the world he says it's a free service only charging them expenses what really drives you to do this oh I enjoy being successful and like any you know artist or you know any type of person they take pride in their work and they want to produce more work you know that if you compose music you want to produce more songs it's I think it's very normal to want to do your job well and to want to do it often no one's miss city yes very nice Joe Dona tells Shaunie that natural insemination is the most effective and claims nearly half of his donations are via sexual intercourse Shani though is only interested in artificial insemination and Joe promises to deliver later that night [Music] Shawny and her partner desperately wanted a child but felt they could neither afford the cost nor the waiting period at an IVF clinic what made you decide on John it honestly was an opportunity that we couldn't not take what was paramount what boxers did he absolutely have to take that he was healthy that he had all of his medical checks as you know I wouldn't be put into danger that was fairly that was probably most important for us to cross those off first and how did you check on that we honestly thought they're being so open and public and that he would have to be so it's a trust issue isn't it absolutely [Music] and dare I ask yeah it's just a syringe for for drawing up yeah aspirate this firm yeah the semen at his Motel Joe inspects his tools of the sperm donation trade syringe so you deposit in something do you a cup yes or you can use a ziploc bag if you don't have a cup so I've arranged to meet I think 15 women in total okay I shouldn't be in your way I should let you get down to business but um yeah Joe it seems is a man who needs a little rest you he's been in the country less than six hours and already he's making his first donation hey there hey do you enjoy it Thank You Lucas thank you have a good night and that's it Shanny is now hoping she and Joe will never need to meet again it's that difficult because this is a moment this is a significant moment and you get the ding dong on the door yeah yeah it was it was a little bit it was very awkward but I tried to make it so that it was as quick as possible so that then my wife and I could share in the moment that we could be making a baby I wanted to make that private and create that special moment between us so now it's a waiting game absolutely fingers crossed like a hunger it can be like a last a baby lust to have a child Kate Bourne understands well this emotional journey for 20 years she's been an infertility counselor and oversees the donor registry of the Victorian assisted reproductive treatment authority the child is asking from two three four you know do I have a daddy who's my daddy what are they going to think it then you know 18th birthday their 30th their 50th their 70s are they going to think you know great job mum great jobs mums or are they going to say what the hell were you thinking how did you ever think that I would be okay with this what would be the maximum donations for women in a day the most I've helped in a day is five and I several cases that I've had two successes in the same day it's only day two and Joe's calendar is filling quickly should the mother be sound of mind though well you know some of these people have a little bit of unstructured lives and a lot of times having a child adds structure to their lives it matures people so I see I don't really see as a problem and I mean even a monkey can raise a baby well we're talking about human beings you say your instincts are good yeah so you're meeting Joe yeah what will you be looking for um body language is one big thing um and obviously a lot of people that are very like hiding things seem to sweat an awful lot to Tracy and Bella will be Joe's next recipients and Joe boasts having at least a hundred children yeah are you comfortable with that they're not in Australia and for one and but look obviously means he's got good swimmers to have that many but you're not concerned by the number of children [Music] between them Tracy and Bella already have seven children their baby Braxton also by a sperm donor and they're seeing Joe tonight to try and add to their brood there's no such thing as too many little Jones know I worked at the math and in the United States I would have liked a limit of maybe 2,500 and I'm nowhere near that so there there's a no problem you quite like the idea of two-and-a-half thousand little Joe's I mean it's just I mean I average in about ten years so hopefully I live that long but I don't think so he's really playing the role of God and he shouldn't be playing the role of God towards desperate women and their kids lawyer Stephen Paige is one of Australia's leading legal voices on donor conception his opinion of Joe is blunt why would you willingly bring into the world a child who has a hundred siblings this isn't some soccer club or some community group at the local CWI it's nothing like that these these are your half-brothers and half-sisters and you're going to try and work out your place in the world and be constantly challenged by that for the rest of your life and then say why did mum and dad do that to me coming up when donor children grow up your fear is having some sort of sexual encounter yes somebody who might be your brother absolutely they're one of a hundred siblings not that Joe cares one little blue sample thank you every person is always happy your existing than non-existent that's next on 60 minutes twenty-nine-year-old Chloe allworthy is a donor conceived person as an embryo she was frozen for two years and then born into the world it's just one of the unique elements of a life that still keeps its mysteries from her there is a condition called genetic sexual attraction or JSA so if you're meeting someone like that for the first time and you don't know that there are sibling you could possibly think wow there's that connection there but not realize that that connection is actually a sibling bond and not something else [Music] Chloe is one of sixteen siblings she made contact with the sperm donor who fathered her and eight of the other children he helped create but the remainder of her siblings are still unknown and for Chloe that creates a terrible unease and so your fear is having some sort of sexual encounter with somebody who might be your brother absolutely I don't even really want to date people within my age range because I'm so afraid that they're going to be my brothers this is the choice that their mother made women make their own reproductive choices haven't you fought for that you now have those rights you have the right to decide your own reproduction I'm just the the tool by which this happens Joe Dona certainly is a tool and he rejects any criticism of his self-appointed a mission to populate the world and the impact on those he might create but if they don't a conceived person says if you'd really cared about me the result of your actions you would know I don't need a hundred shillings oh man i world has any control over what the mother of a child is you're helping them you're helping these women you know that you're helping take every person every person is always happier existing than non-existing oh my goodness I think Joe might have some narcissism or narcissistic personality disorder to feel that way to feel like hey he needs to spread his seed that far between that many people but in a motel somewhere in Milburn's West Joe is at it again Tracy and Bella have come to him nice to meet you I'm Tracy oh well it's room service with the twist we go your your sample thank you good luck guys the trouble with Joe is that nothing can shake him from a belief that his sperm on demand is doing good in the world I really would urge Joe if he's watching this to please reconsider because people like myself and the donor can save community will be outraged by this it's just it's really unfortunate that he hasn't thought through what impact that will have on us on the donor conceived people born from this if it's ever going to go well perhaps the extended family of sperm donors Juan Fernandez and Chris ruse sets the example all these children have either one or Chris to thank for their existence as do mums Jess Samantha and Alicia it's very comfortable yeah it kind of feels like we've known each other for a long long time and we kind of just hand kids over and swap around because as you can see they cause a little bit of havoc when something's not going the way they want it to yes yeah I really love the fact that our kids are going to know their roots and their extended family we're incredibly close and it's just so special it's beautiful to be able to have those memories together as a gay married couple one and Chris had to depend on the generosity of surrogate mothers to have their sons Enzo and Atlas [Music] but then they decided they wanted to give back we think it's extremely important to always be there for those kids so whenever they have the question where I'm coming from you know moms can tell you know you remember uncle uncle Chris or elder one well you know he helped us to have you and that's it although these were private donor arrangements they were done with the same medical checks and legal agreements used in Australian IVF clinics did you feel an obligation to provide medical histories medical checks are there is that part of what you must do yeah we actually we we did it and we've been having blood tests regularly our sperm was also tested you're creating life occuring a baby so it has to start with a very very positive and nice and beautiful base you know coming up you are risking women's lives by your very deliberate actions no I'm not why would be mothers should be worried you can get infections from fresh tinnitus but people who want to get pregnant you're pregnant and the people want to be safe can be safe and does Australia have its first little Joan that's the test that's next on 60 minutes American sperm donor Joe is Criss crossing the Australian countryside offering his services and many of the women he meets have discovered Joe through this man Aaron at a mobile from sperm donation Australia it's very donation USA Adam Hooper is a Perth based FIFO a tradie who works in the local mines am I qualified doctor no but I will say what I am and no doubt no doctor or health specialist can say this but I am the administrator of Australia's largest sperm donor community there's helped many hundreds of children be born Adam Hooper is also a sperm donor and is hoping Jose visit will attract more people to his website do you want to have give yourself the best chance in the mumps of January and February obviously Joe's got the runs and the board [Music] so we've been up into Queensland yes south into Victoria and dabbled in Sydney yeah and then I've also been west to Adelaide and all those women you've seen how many of those have involved natural insemination I don't know there may be half so Joe you understand that you can acquire a disease and not know it when you have unprotected sex the theoretical risk that someone could have a disease which has symptoms which no one can see or feel any result of it all sounds very theoretical to me you know people want to get pregnant and the people who want to get pregnant you're pregnant and the people want to be safe can be safe you are risking women's lives by a very deliberate actions oh I'm not I'm helping women achieve their dreams you are not helping anyone no doctor on call waiting to assist some poor woman but in fact it's quite disturbing what you're really about the real risk is that a woman will die a spinster without a child you're the real risk is you're going to go right off the edge of the evolutionary cliff because you're hypnotized bright propaganda the real risk is that you're totally deluded the sperm is tested to see the quality of the sperm dr. Linden Hale is medical director of the Melbourne IVF clinic basically any disease it's transmissible or communicable through the semen needs to be excluded here sperm is checked and quarantined for three months and fertile women can be artificially inseminated at a fraction of the cost of IVF treatment we absolutely need to make sure that no infections could be passed on to patients it's been well documented in the medical literature that you can get infections from fresh donated sperm I imagine that you look at Joe Turner and wonder why take the risk alright look you do wonder but you no desire to have a baby is intense for some people and this is probably one area we should make really good decisions and not really dumb decisions [Music] in Melbourne Bella and Tracey have their pregnancy result and ice cream the half then and I think guess what we're having a baby we're having a baby and that's that's the test assess that and that's and and it without doubts is pregnant yeah [Music] Joe's first Australian child is on its way to be born after he's long gone five seconds a Chinese home this morning tense minutes as she waits for results her pregnancy test comes up negative your realistic but when you get a negative I guess it it is disappointing income yeah of course of course especially because there is so much hype around Joe and his super sperm I guess we were we were definitely hopeful that there would be an advantage but maybe not [Music] we knew that Joe was a fan of the natural method and because we elected for AI it was kind of it was very different to what I expected and a week later I meet with Shawnee again who tells me she and her wife are now having second thoughts about Joe Dona what's he getting out of it well that's the thing I am honestly not really sure it's really strange [Music] Shawnee has decided to seek help to extend her family at a fertility clinic and Joe while fertility lawyer Stephen page has some free advice for the children conceived by Joe's sexual adventures what would be his legal obligations under Australian law he's dead he's dead he's dead do any of those children have a claim on him well absolutely you know the claim would be the child support or if he dies that of inheritance what would you say to Joe might just give it a break stop doing it you're not God you're screwing up these women's lives and you're potentially screwing up the lives of all the kids that you've created what would stop you doing what you're doing eventually I will get old and die okay that's all it would take that's all it would take yeah hello I'm Liz Hayes thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusives 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 562,648

Rating: 3.6166077 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter Overton, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Paul Barry, Peter Harvey, Michael Usher, Ross Coulthart, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, joe donor, sperm donor, fertility, IVF, babies, family, pregnancy

Id: NGhbcTGZmkI

Length: 25min 21sec (1521 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 17 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/broccolisprout]

Does it say how he would also be the cause of 2500 deaths? Would be really one-sided otherwise.

[u/[deleted]]

Such an ugly man.

[u/desz84]

"I'm just the tool"

​

Yes, yes you are.

[u/charles098]

Reminds me of a dialogue from "Fight Club".

"Fucker's setting up franchises".

[u/FishIsGoat]

Notice how he doesn't even take a moment to talk about the well being of his biological children. He says he's doing this to "succeed". This guy is literally the definition of a selfish natalist.