Sperm donor who fathered more than 20 children shocks The Project

Sperm donor who has fathered more than 20 children tells shocked hosts of The Project why he’s on a ‘baby-making tour of Queensland’

• Adam Hooper, 37, from WA runs the Sperm Donors Australia Facebook page
• He is visiting Brisbane for a 10-day ‘baby making tour’ which includes a seminar
• The Sunday Project hosts seemed surprised by his unorthodox approach 

A sperm donor from Western Australia who has fathered more than 20 children and helped up to 900 more woman conceive has arrived in Queensland ahead of a ‘baby making tour’. 

Adam Hooper, 37, appeared on The Sunday Project after flying into Brisbane where he will hold a seminar and give out ‘free donation samples’ to woman attendees over the span of 10 days. 

The Network 10 hosts – including Hamish Macdonald who admitted he had looked into donating sperm in the traditional clinical setting – appeared unsure what to make of Mr Hooper’s frank honesty about the unorthodox method of conceiving a baby.

‘I’ve stumbled upon this opportunity and have a chance to have a positive effect in people’s lives,’ Mr Hooper said.

‘I’m asking men to come forward and make donations. I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t donate myself,’ he said.

The Project host Hamish Macdonald (pictured) appeared unsure what to make of the unorthodox approach to conceiving a child 

Mr Hooper runs the Sperm Donation Australia Facebook page which has 15,000 members as well as the Sperm Donation World podcast and associated website which sells do-it-yourself donation and artificial insemination kits for between $40 and $120. 

‘I’ve created so many lives, not directly from my sperm, but from hundreds of donors all around Australia and we’ve had thousands of children born this way now.’

The hosts questioned whether Mr Hooper has any medical training. 

‘We’ve got many doctors that join the group and give me that advice and I pass it on,’ he said.

‘At the end of the day I say go and see a doctor and get a medical opinion. A lot of doctors are referring people to us also, so we can’t be that bad.’

Mr Hooper (pictured) has fathered 20 children via sperm donation and helped hundreds of woman connect with other donors through his Facebook group

Aside from the medical aspects, co-host and former Masterchef winner Julie Goodwin questioned whether anybody had backed out and changed their mind about donating and whether there could be legal issues around that. 

Mr Hooper said he was yet to encounter any such issues. 

‘Every year that it (the webiste and community) keeps going is reassuring us that what I’ve set up is working.’

Private sperm donations are becoming increasingly popular as traditional donations to medical clinics often cost about $7,000 or more for potential mothers.

The informal process of private donations is largely unregulated, though some states do have laws limiting how many families one person can donate to.

Macdonald quizzed Hooper on whether he was concerned the children he had helped conceive, directly or indirectly, were being properly cared for and protected from abuse or violence. 

‘The list of what could go wrong in just one case is daunting and you’re doing this for hundreds, isn’t that massive responsibility daunting,’ Macdonald said.

Hopeful mothers who are ovulating during the 37-year-old’s (pictured) 10-day visit will receive an instant sperm donation handed to them in a cup

Mr Hooper replied that he had started the group ‘in 2015 and its 2022 and we’re still yet to see any headlines about this going wrong.’  

‘The family court system is full of people that have rushed into relationships and had children, so this way is a logical and safer choice for people to consider’

‘You don’t pick your husband and wife of a piece of paper you go and meet them’

‘I’ve being doing this for seven years. I screen people, I meet people, I go have coffee, I see what the family network is like and  how they interact with people on social media.’

He added he has previously refused some people as both donors and recipients previously and could ‘personally have helped hundreds of woman if he’s said yes to everybody’.

‘I can’t protect my children from people that aren’t related to them in the street. And in a clinic I have no say about whether that is a good person and will raise them well.’

‘This way is real peace of mind.’ 

Private sperm donations are on the rise after traditional clinics are running low thanks to Covid (stock image) 

Greta French-Kennedy, a yoga teacher, is hoping to get pregnant with a donation from Mr Hooper after failing to conceive with a previous sperm donor. 

The 37-year-old said the idea of being part of a mother’s group whose children shared the same father sounded ‘amazing’.

‘I love the thought that the child can contact Adam if they want,’ she told The Courier Mail.

Mr Hooper said Ms French-Kennedy’s donation would likely have to be exchanged at the airport due to timing. 

Another woman said while she would not benefit from the tour, she hoped it would spark more conversations about private donation in Queensland. 

Sperm Donors Australia said donor sperm was in ‘extremely short supply’ due to a dwindling number of samples that were donated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the number of donors dropped, the number of single women and same-sex couples vying for a sample increased, with clinics struggling to meet the demand.  

Virtus Health, Australia’s largest IVF provider, in May launched a campaign it hoped would encourage sperm and egg donations. 

As there is no financial incentive for donors, many donate sperm or eggs because they have been directly impacted by fertility issues. 

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