7NEWS Spotlight: Baby Trade exposes Australia’s underground donor market – 7NEWS Spotlight investigates the growing fallout from Australia’s sperm donation shortages and the black market now emerging around hopeful parents trying to start a family.
In Baby Trade, correspondent Ashlee Mullany examines the pressures facing Australians who are trying to conceive at a time when making a family does not come easily for everyone.
As donor shortages increase and regulations tighten, some hopeful parents are being pushed towards expensive, complex and potentially risky alternatives in their attempts to have a child.
The investigation looks at the unintended consequences of Australia’s strict sperm donation laws, with demand now far outstripping supply.
For some Australians, the lack of available donors has led them to private arrangements outside the regulated system. 7NEWS Spotlight describes this as a shadowy underground market where there are no limits, no oversight and no guarantees.
Baby Trade reveals the confronting reality of this growing trade, including black market donors who claim to have fathered hundreds of children.
The program raises serious ethical and safety concerns, particularly for the children born through these arrangements, as well as the parents who are navigating a system that can be difficult, costly and emotionally draining.
As calls for reform grow louder, the investigation explores the personal toll on people who are desperately trying to start a family, while also examining the broader cost of the system as it currently stands.
The special report promises a powerful look at a deeply sensitive issue, where the desire to become a parent is colliding with legal, medical and ethical questions about donation, regulation and responsibility.
With Ashlee Mullany leading the investigation, Baby Trade examines how Australia’s fertility landscape is changing and why some people are now turning to options outside the official system.
7NEWS Spotlight Presents: Baby Trade airs Sunday at 8.30pm on Seven and 7plus.
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