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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: Justa huads up. Before we get into today's episode, I

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Speaker 2: want to let you know that it includes a description

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Speaker 2: of miscarriage, so take care while listening. Alice Kempton has

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Speaker 2: pretty much always known she wanted to have kids, and

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Speaker 2: since she was sixteen, she's also known that she'd need

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Speaker 2: help to make it happen.

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Speaker 3: I found out that I would need IVF treatment, and

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Speaker 3: it was all a blur because I hadn't even kissed

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Speaker 3: a boy, so it was something my mum had to

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Speaker 3: process then more than me.

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Speaker 2: Alice had been born without ovaries, so if she ever

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Speaker 2: wanted to have a child, she would need to use

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Speaker 2: an egg from another woman.

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Speaker 3: Hearing that I in inverted commas can't have kids naturally

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Speaker 3: got me thinking from that age, well that's something I

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Speaker 3: really want.

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Speaker 2: And when she was twenty nine, she met someone who

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Speaker 2: really wanted it too.

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Speaker 4: The dream was always for me to have a family

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Speaker 4: with a person I loved.

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Speaker 2: This is Paul Kempton, Alice's husband. They met through Paul's brother.

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Speaker 2: Paul was the best man at his wedding, Alice was

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Speaker 2: a bridesmaid and they connected on the dance floor. Within

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Speaker 2: a year of dating, Alice told Paul that if they

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Speaker 2: wanted to have kids, she'd need a donor egg to

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Speaker 2: get pregnant.

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Speaker 4: No. I certainly didn't know much, if anything, about IVF,

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Speaker 4: let alone a donor. But if you love someone and

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Speaker 4: you love them a lot, and that's someone you want

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Speaker 4: to marry, then you'll do whatever it takes.

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Speaker 2: The cost of IVF can vary wildly depending on where

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Speaker 2: you live, the kind of reproductive assistance you need, whether

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Speaker 2: you have insurance that covers fertility treatments, and whether travel

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Speaker 2: is involved. If you need a donor egg, like Alice,

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Speaker 2: it can increase costs even more. In Australia, where the

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Speaker 2: Hampton's live, there are very limited options for egg donation.

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Speaker 2: The country has some of the most restrictive regulations in

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Speaker 2: the global egg market. In an effort to prevent exploitation.

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Speaker 2: Eggs must truly be donated there, meaning donors must give

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Speaker 2: up their eggs altruistically. No payment for the donation is allowed.

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Speaker 2: That means that finding a donor in Australia can be

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Speaker 2: really hard, and donation almost always happens between people who

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Speaker 2: know each other. For Alice and Paul, there was only

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Speaker 2: one family member they could ask Alice's cousin.

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Speaker 3: I wrote a really long letter, not because I was

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Speaker 3: potentially worried about the result, but I wanted to let

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Speaker 3: her know my true wives not ave turn thirty, and

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Speaker 3: we should have kids, and you need to help me.

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Speaker 3: It was this was going to be the biggest gift

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Speaker 3: someone could give. I sent the letter and I was,

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Speaker 3: you know, probably nervous as it were, but still excited

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Speaker 3: as well. Not nervous, and anyway, very soon she said,

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Speaker 3: I have been waiting for this letter for so long, so.

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Speaker 1: It was magical. Yeah, it was. It was great.

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Speaker 2: Alice knew the process wouldn't be easy, but they'd do

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Speaker 2: it together.

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Speaker 3: I was very keen to live every injection with her

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Speaker 3: and make sure each step of the way. She constantly

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Speaker 3: knew that this was the best thing she was ever

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Speaker 3: going to give someone else, you know, and I'll be

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Speaker 3: a shoulder to cry on. I'll be a late night

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Speaker 3: phone call like anything you're going through. I want to

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Speaker 3: pretend I'm going through because I can't be the one

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Speaker 3: at that stage in the early process having the drugs.

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Speaker 2: So Alice, her cousin, and Paul started IVF and the

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Speaker 2: path ahead of them. While not without challenges, looked promising.

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Speaker 3: This beginning was awesome. My cousin was super fertile for

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Speaker 3: a geriatric. She's exceptionally healthy. Yes, she's considered geriatric in

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Speaker 3: the IVF world. So we would laugh about those words

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Speaker 3: going around the room because.

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Speaker 2: She was just like in her mid thirties.

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Speaker 1: Exactly, and I was low thirties.

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Speaker 3: So we were just politive the whole way until it wasn't.

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Speaker 2: This is episode three of The Human Egg Trade, a

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Speaker 2: special series from Bloomberg's investigations team and the Big Take

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Speaker 2: podcast about the booming global market for human eggs. A

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Speaker 2: team of Bloomberg reporters across five continents and eleven countries

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Speaker 2: have spent the last year trying to understand how human

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Speaker 2: eggs are donated, bought, sold, and moved around the world.

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Speaker 2: We've covered how a teenage girl was lured into the

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Speaker 2: egg trade in India, and how police say women's eggs

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Speaker 2: were stolen in Greece, cases where egg donation led to

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Speaker 2: exploitation and violated local laws. In this episode, we focus

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Speaker 2: on one couple whose experience navigating the fertility industry as

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Speaker 2: egg recipients brought them a different set of challenges. They

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Speaker 2: wanted access to a market they felt offered transparency. They

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Speaker 2: especially wanted information about potential donors. They wanted the best

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Speaker 2: they could afford.

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Speaker 5: They call their son a quarter million dollar baby.

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Speaker 2: That's Bloomberg investigative reporter Jessica Brice, who spoke extensively with Ackemptance.

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Speaker 5: They say, by the time they finished the process with him,

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Speaker 5: they'd spent about a quarter million dollars.

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Speaker 2: And did they go into debt. They did go into debt.

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Speaker 6: Yes.

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Speaker 2: Today on the show, the exhilarating promise, gutting losses, and

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Speaker 2: extreme cost of one family's journey through the global IVF

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Speaker 2: market will continue after the break with twenty donated eggs

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Speaker 2: from Alice's cousin. Alice and Paul's IVF journey was off

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Speaker 2: to an auspicious start with paul sperm. Those twenty eggs

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Speaker 2: made nine viable embryos.

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Speaker 1: We put a fresh transfer in.

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Speaker 3: I was fitting healthy, The embryos were looking awesome according

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Speaker 3: to the embryologist. And I was pregnant, you know, at

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Speaker 3: the ten day blood test, and then at the two

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Speaker 3: week and the three week, in the four and the

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Speaker 3: five and the sixth and the seven and they ate

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Speaker 3: and then there was a heartbeat, and then two weeks

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Speaker 3: later another heartbeat.

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Speaker 2: At fourteen weeks, they went in for a checkup. Paul

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Speaker 2: had been out of town during the first two scants,

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Speaker 2: so it would be the first time they'd see their

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Speaker 2: baby's heartbeat together. Alice works as a veterinarian, so she

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Speaker 2: knows how to read an ultrasound.

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Speaker 3: And so from the minute that lady put the probe bond,

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Speaker 3: I didn't say heartbeat. And Paul was sitting next to me,

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Speaker 3: and he hadn't been in one yet, and he's holding

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Speaker 3: my hand, and I was like, I remember just saying

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Speaker 3: it's dead.

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Speaker 1: It's dead, it's dead. And Paul was still asking questions, Oh,

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Speaker 1: what's that?

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Speaker 6: What's that?

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Speaker 3: And the lady obviously has to do a thorough scan,

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Speaker 3: so she still has to on her report, right, what's

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Speaker 3: in the top right, the top left, the bottom right,

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Speaker 3: the butt, And I was like, get off my tummy,

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Speaker 3: you know, and just tell me what I know.

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Speaker 6: I still remember it very clearly.

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Speaker 4: That first first loss was really hard, and I knew

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Speaker 4: it would be really really taxing in heart on ol

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Speaker 4: and obviously for both of us. But you know, I

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Speaker 4: felt like, you know, keep positive, keep the faith.

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Speaker 2: The captains still had eight viable embryos, so they tried

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Speaker 2: again and again and again. Over eighteen months, Alice went

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Speaker 2: through a total of seven IVF cycles. She got pregnant

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Speaker 2: five times, and she had five mess carriages, and.

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Speaker 1: They were horndus.

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Speaker 3: I became a very bitter person and very glass half

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Speaker 3: empty when a that was not me prior for probably

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Speaker 3: the next year. So I definitely went through what did

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Speaker 3: I do to lose this?

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Speaker 1: You know?

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Speaker 3: Did I do too much core exercise? Was it playing tennis?

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Speaker 3: Or what did I eat or what? Like?

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Speaker 1: What you idiot? You didn't get enough sleep? You know?

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Speaker 1: Did I kill this?

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Speaker 3: You know? So that is a horrible self reflection to do,

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Speaker 3: but everyone would do that. I feel I've never met

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Speaker 3: someone that has a miscarriage without questioning that.

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Speaker 2: People around her, people close to her, started to ask

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Speaker 2: if she and Paul were going too far.

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Speaker 3: I had beautiful friends and found me to lean on.

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Speaker 3: But even by this stage, you know, your seventh one.

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Speaker 1: When you've got so far, I kept getting pregnant.

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Speaker 3: Families even starting to say, are you guys flogging a

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Speaker 3: dead horse? You know, like, what's what's your thought process here?

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Speaker 3: And then you just keep looking them in the eye

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Speaker 3: and say I've got pregnant. Specialists say I'm not flogging

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Speaker 3: a dead horse. And the highs to the carrot dangling

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Speaker 3: is to gold, you know, so you press on.

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Speaker 2: Eventually there were no embryos left, and when Paul and

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Speaker 2: Alice asked her cousin if she'd donate another round of eggs,

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Speaker 2: she told them she couldn't go through it again. Alice

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Speaker 2: and Paul had gone as far down the IVF path

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Speaker 2: as they could. Given their circumstances and Australia's restrictions, they

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Speaker 2: didn't know anyone else they could ask. They decided they'd

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Speaker 2: need to go abroad. That would mean new possibilities, but

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Speaker 2: also navigating new regulatory frameworks. It would also mean new costs.

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Speaker 2: That's after the break in their home country of Australia.

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Speaker 2: Alison Paul Kempton had gone as far as they could

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Speaker 2: to have a child through IVF, so they decided to

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Speaker 2: look at clinics in other parts of the world. They

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Speaker 2: both have fair hair and fair skin and felt it

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Speaker 2: was important for their baby to look like they did.

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Speaker 2: They also wanted a donor who shared their active lifestyle,

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Speaker 2: who had no history of family illness. And whose eggs

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Speaker 2: had already been used to conceive a child. So you

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Speaker 2: looked at every single potential country outside of Australia that

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Speaker 2: you could.

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Speaker 1: Yep, we looked at names of clinics.

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Speaker 3: I have probably forty emails to different clinics in Europe,

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Speaker 3: about ten to South Africa and lots to America before

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Speaker 3: we in Inverticomas made a decision to just chase the

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Speaker 3: American dream because financially it's in a world of its

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Speaker 3: own for IVF, but for really valid reasons.

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Speaker 2: The Kemptons had a lot on the line, both emotionally

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Speaker 2: and financially. They'd already spent a little more than thirty

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars for IVF and Australia.

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Speaker 3: Since we were thirty, it's been IRVF. You know, should

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Speaker 3: we could?

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Speaker 1: We can?

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Speaker 6: We?

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Speaker 3: Or is it better for that? While friends were going

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Speaker 3: on holidays or getting houses or you know, equals in

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Speaker 3: your profession doing all that, You're like, oh, I really

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Speaker 3: want to, but our whys is so real?

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Speaker 1: There?

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Speaker 2: Why making a family? So even though the US would

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Speaker 2: easily be the most expensive place to get treatment of

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Speaker 2: the countries they were looking at, they decided to stretch

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Speaker 2: for it.

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Speaker 4: It was the transparency that America has the level of

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Speaker 4: pre qualifying donors and the just the information you could

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Speaker 4: get on them and their family and their siblings and

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Speaker 4: their grandparents.

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Speaker 6: And that was what certainly got me.

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Speaker 4: Over the line and got us over line in terms

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Speaker 4: of going down that path.

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Speaker 2: Once they decided on the US, the next up was

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Speaker 2: to find a donor, and Alice says American doorner agencies

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Speaker 2: had a dizzying number of options.

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Speaker 3: At first, I was going to design a child, so

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Speaker 3: I was looking for Feeno type only, and I was

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Speaker 3: just like, they're going to be smart, they're going to

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Speaker 3: be athletic, and they're going to be tall and good looking,

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Speaker 3: and you know what, Bugert, I'm going to find it.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to do this.

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Speaker 2: But it wasn't just photos. She was also sifting through

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Speaker 2: family medical histories.

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Speaker 3: I was definitely looking at photos at first for months,

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Speaker 3: and then after a photo I would read and as

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Speaker 3: I said, extensive medical and I'd be like, oh, wow,

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Speaker 3: that poor family. You know, her cousin and her cousin's

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Speaker 3: mum have both had breast cancer, you know, and we

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Speaker 3: know that there is a breast cancer chain. So that's

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Speaker 3: when I might say Oh, maybe not, because we can

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Speaker 3: have that choice. And you know that is horrendous to

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Speaker 3: people that have to go through that. But if I

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Speaker 3: can avoid that, we're so lucky.

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Speaker 2: Alice says she spent seven months spinning her wheels, struggling

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Speaker 2: with the weed of the choy she was making. She

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Speaker 2: was working full time and spending four hours a day

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Speaker 2: looking at donor profiles. She says it was like a

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Speaker 2: dating app. You could just keep swiping and swiping and

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Speaker 2: swiping without making progress. She went to her therapist for advice.

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Speaker 1: I said, I'm going crazy. How am I going to

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Speaker 1: make this decision?

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Speaker 3: Like what if I have to look my kid in

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Speaker 3: the eye and say, I'm so sorry I made the

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Speaker 3: wrong decision. You know. I was that the guilt is

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Speaker 3: already there, and because you could lego piece this potential

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Speaker 3: designer child together, Paul would find me up at three am,

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Speaker 3: you know, just scroll of thing, you know, and I

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Speaker 3: was exhausted.

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Speaker 2: Her therapist told her to stop looking at photos and

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Speaker 2: focus on what was really important to them. And then

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Speaker 2: one day Alice came upon a profile that seemed special,

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Speaker 2: right somehow? Do you remember what it was about her

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Speaker 2: profile that kind of stood up to you.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely her name, because most donors are donor A

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Speaker 3: two one four seven and you never find out their name.

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Speaker 3: And there were even on the email you don't know Karen.

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Speaker 3: I was like, oh Karen, cool name, love it, go girl.

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Speaker 2: Alice took a quick peek at Karen's photo and then

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Speaker 2: skipped to her medical history, no red flax.

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Speaker 3: Then I went back to her profile and we reguarded

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Speaker 3: to read first, and I was.

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Speaker 1: Like, yeah, she likes pizza. This is so cool.

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Speaker 3: She loves running, like this is my girl, and I

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Speaker 3: can't wait to tell Paul. And then I looked at

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Speaker 3: photo and she just a smile. She's this You could

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Speaker 3: see her jumping out it. You're saying, let me help you.

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Speaker 3: So I vividly remember that, especially because it's on top of,

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Speaker 3: you know, eighteen months of trawling and getting very close,

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Speaker 3: you know, like we had spreadsheets about whether it was

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Speaker 3: health GPA, and then it was literally like what that

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Speaker 3: spreadsheet clear, We've found Karen. Paul needs to wake up,

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Speaker 3: I need to shut we need to get onto this

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Speaker 3: because she's going to be snapped up.

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Speaker 5: So Karen Pets is a model from Argentina.

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Speaker 2: Karen has spoken at length with her colleague Bloomberg reporter

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Speaker 2: Jessica Brace.

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Speaker 5: She's tall, she's charismatic, she's really smart, she's very nice,

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Speaker 5: and she's gorgeous.

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Speaker 1: And she's also a superproducer.

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Speaker 2: A super producer, a donor who produces far more than

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Speaker 2: the typical fifteen to twenty eggs each cycle.

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Speaker 5: Her first donation was in January twenty nineteen. She was

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Speaker 5: twenty six years old, and she flew to Los Angeles.

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Speaker 5: She was paid six thousand dollars. The retrieval yielded forty

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Speaker 5: five eggs, and somehow word got out. She still doesn't

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Speaker 5: know exactly how word got out. But within a week

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Speaker 5: or two, this agency called Growing Generations called her up

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Speaker 5: and they said, oh, we want to represent you.

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Speaker 2: Which meant she could charge a lot more per cycle,

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Speaker 2: tens of thousands of dollars. But Karen told Jessica it

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Speaker 2: wasn't just about the money.

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Speaker 5: This sort of gives her more purpose in life. We

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Speaker 5: spoke to a lot of egg donors who are very

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Speaker 5: open about saying I only do this for the money.

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Speaker 5: It's an easy way to make a lot of money,

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Speaker 5: and that's not necessarily Karen's case, although she does get

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Speaker 5: paid and compensated very well, just because she is, you know,

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Speaker 5: such an elite donor.

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Speaker 2: So elite that the Kemptons worried lots of other people

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Speaker 2: might want Karen's eggs too, so they rushed to reach

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Speaker 2: out to her agency before someone else did.

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Speaker 3: And literally, Paul, I can't remember how long you looked

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Speaker 3: at her profile. But then he's like, right, we need

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Speaker 3: to we need we need to emia it now. I

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Speaker 3: was like, I'm doing I'll do I'll do it, I'll

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Speaker 3: do it. Do it.

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Speaker 2: A representative from the donor agency helped Alice and Paul

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Speaker 2: exchange letters with Karen, and once that went well, Alice

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Speaker 2: wanted to take it one step further.

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Speaker 3: I said, would she ever mate with us in scott

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Speaker 3: And she said, look, it's it's really not done, but

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Speaker 3: I've got to go back to Karen.

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Speaker 1: And Karen was for it.

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Speaker 2: The meeting was booked for thirty minutes.

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Speaker 3: And it was just hysterical, like I talk a lot,

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Speaker 3: but so is Karen, and we were just and with

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Speaker 3: Paul like he was able to charme in. It wasn't

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Speaker 3: as it was just two girls with three of us

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Speaker 3: were just chatting Kenny, Kenny, Kenny.

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Speaker 2: Suddenly time was up. The donor agency said they had

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Speaker 2: to end the call, and we were all like no.

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Speaker 2: Karen and the Kemptons were in They all boarded flights

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Speaker 2: to Portland, Oregon, Karen from Argentina and the Kemptons from Australia.

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Speaker 2: Alice says half her suitcase held presents for Karen. They

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Speaker 2: met for pizza. It was August of twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 1: Mating her was awesome.

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Speaker 3: We literally, I think we walked up to each other

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Speaker 3: and in the restaurant and gave each other a big hug,

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Speaker 3: and then there was just no awkwardness. It wasn't like, oh,

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Speaker 3: what do you do in the afternoons? It was just

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Speaker 3: striding to banter.

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Speaker 2: The three of them swap numbers and started a WhatsApp

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Speaker 2: group chat. This was the kind of openness and connectedness

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Speaker 2: the Kemptons had hoped to find pursuing IVF in the US,

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Speaker 2: But in the back of her mind, Alice says she

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Speaker 2: had concerns. Not long before they made the trip to Portland,

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Speaker 2: Paul had been hospitalized with the flu, and they worried

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Speaker 2: the fever could have affected the viability of his sperm.

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Speaker 3: I had this parrot in my head just saying remember

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Speaker 3: Paul had the flu in Australia, so I was nervous

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Speaker 3: and really drilling the clinic question wise, like you know,

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Speaker 3: we're not questioning what Karen has to go through, but

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Speaker 3: like I'm going to say you, for the six or

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Speaker 3: seventh time, we are happy to do a freeze all

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Speaker 3: egg cycle, like Paul really fried that sperm, you know,

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Speaker 3: like he was sick.

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Speaker 2: The Kemptons didn't want to take any chances. They felt

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Speaker 2: like this was their only shot. They'd paid twenty five

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Speaker 2: thousand US dollars for Karen's fee, plus a seventeen thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars agency fee. Then there were fifteen thousand dollars in

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Speaker 2: travel costs to bring Karen to the US. The clinic

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Speaker 2: charged another forty thousand dollars for the procedures Karen's agg retrieval,

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Speaker 2: Paul's sperm collection, fertilizing the egg. Add in expenses for

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Speaker 2: their own plane tickets, hormones for both Karen and Alys,

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Speaker 2: several weeks of lodging, food, and a car. All in,

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Speaker 2: the Kemptons had accumulated a debt of more than one

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Speaker 2: hundred and seventy thousand dollars. Things had to go well.

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Speaker 2: At the clinic.

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Speaker 1: You have collection day, so that's go Karen, go Paul.

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Speaker 2: And on Karen's side, things went extremely well. Fifty one

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00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:17,639
Speaker 2: eggs with paul sperm nineteen became embryos, and then the

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Speaker 2: kemptins waited for the results of their genetic testing to

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Speaker 2: come in.

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Speaker 4: It was one of the worst told eyes I remember having,

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Speaker 4: because I could just distrain and agony of waiting.

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Speaker 3: I was just punching through the motions, trying to enjoy myself,

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Speaker 3: but just petrified. Each day, I'm like counting down the

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Speaker 3: day until we actually knew.

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Speaker 2: Alice and Paul were at the gym when they got

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Speaker 2: the call.

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Speaker 3: I was on the treadmill, and the nurses are just

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Speaker 3: so lovely, so they start off obviously very high, ellis

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Speaker 3: how's your day, and then just wham. You know, I'm

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Speaker 3: sorry to say none had survived to be viable, and

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Speaker 3: I just I don't think I said anything.

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Speaker 1: I went silent. I got off the treadmill, cried.

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Speaker 3: Went straight up to the and then I didn't leave

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Speaker 3: my computer. I just went straight into you know, how

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Speaker 3: did this happen?

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Speaker 1: Mode? And I'm going to find out how, and I'm

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Speaker 1: going to make someone.

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Speaker 7: Accountable because we knew we'd never be able to do

379
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,399
Speaker 7: it again financially, Like you know, we knew from before

380
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,920
Speaker 7: we even while you're still positive, you're not talking about

381
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Speaker 7: it because the thought that you have to do it

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Speaker 7: again isn't there.

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Speaker 1: But we both knew.

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Speaker 6: We always knew America was our last chance.

385
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Speaker 4: And I remember just needing to walk, go for walk

386
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Speaker 4: by myself, giving our space and myself space. Like I

387
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Speaker 4: just thought it was very devastating at that point, and

388
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Speaker 4: we thought that was the end.

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Speaker 6: Really.

390
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Speaker 2: One of the first things they did was let Karen

391
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Speaker 2: know what had happened.

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Speaker 3: I think her first words were, what can I do

393
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Speaker 3: to help? She was very quick to say, I will

394
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Speaker 3: donate for free, like so quick, you know, it wasn't

395
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Speaker 3: even me asking.

396
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Speaker 1: She's like, we'll all do it again.

397
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Speaker 2: The donor agency ultimately got involved and wouldn't let Karen

398
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,280
Speaker 2: donate for fere, but they did offer the Kemptons a

399
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:06,199
Speaker 2: twenty percent discount on the agency fee. The clinic's medical

400
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,640
Speaker 2: director said in an interview with Bloomberg, quote, we work

401
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,680
Speaker 2: with compromised sperm all the time. We thought it was

402
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 2: a reasonable plan to move forward at the time, he

403
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,480
Speaker 2: wrote the Kemptons to let them know how disappointed their

404
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:21,399
Speaker 2: whole team was in the outcome, and the clinic offered

405
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,679
Speaker 2: them a second cycle with Karen's eggs for free. Even so,

406
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,280
Speaker 2: the Kemptons had to come up with more money for

407
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:32,840
Speaker 2: Karen's second retrieval. Their debt was now approaching two hundred

408
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Speaker 2: and fifty thousand dollars.

409
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:39,119
Speaker 3: We found out on New Year's Eve morning that we

410
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 3: had four genetically beautiful embryos.

411
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,439
Speaker 2: And less than a year later, in late twenty twenty,

412
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Speaker 2: the Kempton son Rupert, was born.

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Speaker 6: It was It's the best best day of my life.

414
00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:01,600
Speaker 4: You know. It's just amazing to have fallen in love

415
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,760
Speaker 4: with someone that you love so much, to go through

416
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:07,200
Speaker 4: that heartache that we have over a number of years,

417
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:09,040
Speaker 4: and then to actually.

418
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,000
Speaker 6: Hold Rupert that to this day would be the most

419
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Speaker 6: happiest moment of my life. It's an amazing thrill in

420
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Speaker 6: an amazing achievement.

421
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:21,280
Speaker 2: And in twenty twenty three, the Captains welcomed a daughter, Matilda.

422
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,720
Speaker 2: Both Matilda and her brother were born from the embryos

423
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Speaker 2: created from Karen's second agritrouval.

424
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Speaker 3: I've always loved having friends and seeing their kids and be.

425
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Speaker 1: Like, oh that, that's a little bit of you. Like,

426
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:34,280
Speaker 1: I love looking at that.

427
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:37,439
Speaker 3: And so I definitely look at Rupert and Matilda and

428
00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,000
Speaker 3: I'm like, where's Paul, Where's Karen, where's me?

429
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,320
Speaker 2: Alice says she sees all three of them and the kids.

430
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Speaker 3: I'm headstrong. Yes, Matilda is headstrong. Karen might be headstrong Paul,

431
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,680
Speaker 3: but it's her tweak on it, you know. So we

432
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,480
Speaker 3: call Matilda Hurricane because she'll come in.

433
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Speaker 1: And Paul Rupert is a very.

434
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,520
Speaker 3: Perfectionist, dedicated, He's a beautiful.

435
00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,160
Speaker 1: Gentle and then Matilda comes in. It just says, I'm

436
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,560
Speaker 1: knocking that over. You know, here I cam.

437
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:07,240
Speaker 2: In Australia, it's not uncommon for donor conceived people to

438
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 2: know the identity of their donors. Several of the country

439
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,959
Speaker 2: states have passed legislation giving children the right to know

440
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 2: their heritage, and Alice and Paul have embraced that culture

441
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,000
Speaker 2: with their kids. They have a world map up in

442
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 2: their home, so Rupert and Matilda can see where Karen

443
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,199
Speaker 2: lives in Argentina and where the clinic is in Portland.

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00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:28,880
Speaker 2: And they've been open with the kids about how they

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00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:29,280
Speaker 2: were born.

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00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,280
Speaker 3: So we made a decision to make sure we had

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00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 3: picture books from the get go, like age appropriate books

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00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,840
Speaker 3: as they grow up, and even it was important to

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00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:43,639
Speaker 3: us for that truthness. And also we're really proud of

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00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:47,240
Speaker 3: how much we love Karen, like we would not have

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00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:48,880
Speaker 3: our family without her.

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Speaker 2: So in the end, the time, the heartbreak, the money,

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00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:58,120
Speaker 2: it all felt worth it, and the Camptons realize they're

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00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 2: lucky they were able to pay for it all. How

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00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:06,480
Speaker 2: did you manage to find the money to fund this journey?

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00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,600
Speaker 4: I mean over the course of our whole uf journey

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00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:16,560
Speaker 4: it would be half a mill and over a number of.

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00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:21,240
Speaker 2: Years that's about half a million Australian dollars, which is

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00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 2: just over three hundred thousand US dollars.

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00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:26,879
Speaker 4: And a lot of that has been our own savings,

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00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,640
Speaker 4: but we've had a fair chunk towards the end, which

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00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 4: involved the America, which we've had to borrow. And you know,

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00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 4: rather see it as it as an upfront amount. You

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00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:38,959
Speaker 4: sort of look at it over the course of your

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00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 4: whole life. I think you only live once and you

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00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:48,440
Speaker 4: only have one chance of having a family, And yes,

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00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,679
Speaker 4: it's a lot of money up front, but it's.

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00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:52,600
Speaker 6: An investment in your future.

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Speaker 4: It's an investment in Your Life.

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Speaker 2: That was the third episode in The Human Egg Trade,

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00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,919
Speaker 2: our special series about the booming global market for human eggs.

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00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 2: For more in depth reporting on how the human egg

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00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,640
Speaker 2: has become a precious resource traded around the world, read

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00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 2: The Egg, an investigation by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and The Big Take.

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00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 2: You can read The Egg on the Bloomberg terminal, Bloomberg

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00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,479
Speaker 2: dot com or in the January twenty twenty five issue

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00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 2: of Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This is The Big Take from Bloomberg News.

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Speaker 2: I'm Sarah Holder. This episode was produced by David Fox.

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00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,480
Speaker 2: It was edited by Tracy Samuelson and Ken Armstrong. It

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00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 2: was fact checked by Naomi Ean and mixed and sound

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00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,280
Speaker 2: designed by Alex Sugia. Our senior producer is Naomi Shaven.

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Speaker 2: Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso. Our executive producer is

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Speaker 2: Nicole Beamster. Bor Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of Podcasts.

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00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 2: If you liked this episode, make sure to subscribe and

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Speaker 2: review The Big Take wherever you listen to podcasts. It

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00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 2: helps people find the show. Thanks for listening. We'll be

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00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 2: back next week.