Buying sperm online. Author Julie Ma. Vintage wedding photos

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

People wanting to start a family, who need to use a sperm donor say they feel forced into finding sperm online in unregulated spaces because NHS funding is rationed or they don’t qualify for it and it's too expensive to go to a private clinic. The UK’s fertility regulator has warned that doing so carries “significant risks”. We hear from the Chair of the HFEA and from two women who sought donors via the internet. Julie Ma's first novel Happy Families won the Richard and Judy/WH Smith 'Search For A Bestseller Competition' in October and has just been published. She talks to Anita about the book which is centred around a Chinese takeaway the Yau Sum in West Wales which closely resembles the one she grew up in and now runs with her brother. And Charlotte Sibtain who's collected more than 400 vintage wedding photos from charity shops, markets and the internet and tries to track their owners. Presenter Anita Rani Producer Beverley Purcell illustration Chris Vallance

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:05.2	Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.
0:10.6	Welcome, welcome, welcome to Friday's Woman's Hour.
0:14.0	You're all welcome, even you.
0:15.7	Now, what lengths would you go to to get pregnant?
0:18.9	Would you consider buying sperm from a stranger online?
0:22.4	We'll be hearing from two women who have.
0:25.4	Today, we're also talking weddings, remember those?
0:27.9	Well, actually we're technically talking about wedding photos.
0:31.3	Do you have all the wedding picks from all your family weddings ever?
0:36.2	Do you like looking at other people's snaps?
0:38.1	Well, Charlotte has a master collection of 400 wedding picks
0:41.6	and she doesn't know who any of the people are.
0:44.6	She might have photos of your family
0:46.3	and if she'd quite like to get them back to you.
0:49.2	I'll also be recommending a page turner today.
0:51.5	How many of you have read a book about the British Chinese experience?
0:55.4	I'll let you have a think about that one.
0:56.9	Well, I'm really looking forward to discussing happy families
0:59.7	with Julie Ma, who turned first time novelist at 51, truly inspiring.
1:05.4	And flower deliveries are going through the roof
1:08.2	as we are reaching out to our loved ones
	...

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