Episode 44: Donor Conception and Comedy

In 2022 at a Fertility Industry Stakeholder meeting representatives from Seattle Sperm bank admitted that they give leftover vials of sperm to the FBI. This story was covered by LGBTQ Nation in May 2025. Join us as we interview Eve Wiley who was present for this meeting as we dissect what this means and what the could be the terrifying result of this.LGBTQ Nation Article: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/05/private-sperm-bank-admits-to-giving-sperm-samples-to-fbi-without-donors-knowledge/

California Cryobank and Donor Egg Bank USA which are both owned by Cooper Surgical have written a new HB25-1259 in Colorado that guts Donor-Conceived Persons and Families of Donor-Conceived Persons Protection Act SB 22-224 that was passed in 2022. This episode I talk with Steve Fenberg former President of the Senate in Colorado about our original Colorado bill and this new bill that has been introduced. All information on how to take action: https://www.usdcc.org/2025/02/12/call-to-action-industry-seeks-to-gut-colorados-protections-for-dcp-families/

Kelsey shares her story of being an embryo adoptee. She dives head first into the nuance of ethics surrounding embryo adoption, and describes what it was like finding out that she is an embryo adoptee, reconnecting to her biological family, and figuring out what this means to her.

In this inspirational episode we listen to two donor conceived brothers who were raised in two different family units, but both of their parents chose to use a known donor from birth from a LGBTQIA focused clinic in California. Listening to both of them describe how supportive their parents and donor/dad have been throughout their lives is just heart warming. This episode is filled with a lot of positive advice to recipient parents and intended recipient parents.

Claire-Lise is an egg donor conceived person who discusses her journey as a late discovery, what it feels like watching countless egg donor recruitment ads, and finding her egg donor who turned out to be very problematic

‘Sarah’ is a recipient parent who unfortunately not only had to see a nightmare counselor from the clinic, but also watched one of her children get very sick and told by the hospital that the only way they could confirm his illness is by doing a blood test on both genetic parents.

Freya is not only donor conceived, but she is also recipient parent and a known egg donor. She has such a unique perspective and brings so much nuance to the conversation. She is also born and raised in The Uk so we learn a little bit more about how that donor conception market functions

Chelsea Devantez is not just donor conceived but also a renowned comedian. Her credits include being the head writer for ‘The Problem with Jon Stewart’. Today Chelsea is sharing her donor conception experience and her new book which you can find here: https://www.chelsearosedevantez.com/the-book

Meet Mark a sperm donor from Xytex who walks us through his experience working with the bank and then being available as a known donor.

Welcome Dr. Aimee aka the Egg Whisperer! Dr. Aimee is here to talk to us about egg donation, causes for infertility, what to look for in a doctor, infertility trauma, and the changes she would like to see happen to the fertility industry.