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Alice Kempton has pretty much always known she wanted to have kids. And since she was 16, she's also known that she'd need help to make it happen. I found out that I would need IVF treatment and it was all a blur because I hadn't even kissed a boy. So it was...
Something my mum had to process then more than me. Alice had been born without ovaries. So if she ever wanted to have a child, she would need to use an egg from another woman. Hearing that I, in inverted commas, can't have kids naturally, got me thinking from that age, well, that's something I really want. And when she was 29, she met someone who really wanted it too. The dream was always for me.
for me to have a family with a person I loved. This is Paul Kempton, Alice's husband. They met through Paul's brother. Paul was the best man at his wedding, Alice was a bridesmaid, and they connected on the dance floor. Within a year of dating, Alice told Paul that if they wanted to have kids, she'd need a donor egg to get pregnant. I certainly didn't know much, if anything, about IVF, let alone a donor, but if you love someone...
and you love them a lot and that's someone you want to marry, then you'll do whatever it takes. The cost of IVF can vary wildly depending on where you live, the kind of reproductive assistance you need, whether you have insurance that covers fertility treatments, and whether travel is involved. If you need a donor egg, like Alice, it can increase costs even more. In Australia, where the Kemptons live, there are very limited options for egg donation.
The country has some of the most restrictive regulations in the global egg market. In an effort to prevent exploitation, eggs must truly be donated there, meaning donors must give up their eggs altruistically. No payment for the donation is allowed. That means that finding a donor in Australia can be really hard, and donation almost always happens between people who know each other. For Alice and Paul, there was only one family member they could ask: Alice's cousin.
I wrote a really long letter, not because I was potentially worried about the result, but I wanted to let her know my true why. It's not, oh, I've turned 30 and we should have kids and you need to help me. It was, this was going to be the biggest gift someone could give. I sent the letter and I was...
you know, probably nervous is a word, but still excited as well. So not nervous. And anyway, very soon she said, I have been waiting for this letter for so long. So it was magical. Yeah, it was, it was great.
Alice knew the process wouldn't be easy, but they'd do it together. I was very keen to live every injection with her and make sure each step of the way she constantly knew that this was the best thing she was ever going to give someone else, you know, and...
I'll be a shoulder to cry on. I'll be a late night phone call. Like anything you're going through, I want to pretend I'm going through because I can't be the one at that stage in the early process having the drugs. So Alice, her cousin and Paul started IVF. And the path ahead of them, while not without challenges, looked promising. The beginning was awesome. My cousin was super fertile for a geriatric. She's exceptionally healthy. Yeah.
Yes, she's considered geriatric in the IVF world. So we would laugh about those words going around the room because she was... She was like in her mid-30s. Exactly. And I was low 30s. So we were just positive the whole way until it wasn't.
This is episode three of The Human Egg Trade, a special series from Bloomberg's investigations team and the Big Take podcast about the booming global market for human eggs. A team of Bloomberg reporters across five continents and 11 countries have spent the last year trying to understand how human eggs are donated, bought, sold and moved around the world.
We've covered how a teenage girl was lured into the egg trade in India and how police say women's eggs were stolen in Greece. Cases where egg donation led to exploitation and violated local laws. In this episode, we focus on one couple whose experience navigating the fertility industry as egg recipients brought them a different set of challenges. They wanted access to a market they felt offered transparency.
They especially wanted information about potential donors. They wanted the best they could afford. They call their son a quarter-million-dollar baby. That's Bloomberg investigative reporter Jessica Bryce, who spoke extensively with the Kemptons. They say by the time they finished the process with him, they'd spent about a quarter million dollars. And did they go into debt? They did go into debt, yes.
Today on the show, the exhilarating promise, gutting losses, and extreme cost of one family's journey through the global IVF market. We'll continue after the break.
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Just look at the NDA. They're using AI-powered insights to deliver more personalized fan experiences. Then there's BMW, driving change confidently with safe, secure AI tools and guidance. And the LEGO house? They're creating new interactive experiences for people to explore.
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Growing and innovating your business is your job. Microsoft helps you achieve that with innovative AI tools and experiences to guide you confidently into the future. Whatever change comes next, let Microsoft help you keep pushing forward. For more details, visit Microsoft.com slash challengers. With 20 donated eggs from Alice's cousin, Alice and Paul's IVF journey was off to an auspicious start.
With Paul's sperm, those 20 eggs made nine viable embryos. We put a fresh transfer in. I was fit and healthy. The embryos were looking awesome, according to the embryologist. And I was pregnant, you know, at the 10-day blood test and then at the two-week and the three-week and the four and the five and the six and the seven and the eight. And then there was a heartbeat.
And then two weeks later, another heartbeat. At 14 weeks, they went in for a checkup. Paul had been out of town during the first two scans, so it would be the first time they'd see their baby's heartbeat together. Alice works as a veterinarian, so she knows how to read an ultrasound. And so from the minute that lady put the probe on, I didn't see a heartbeat. And Paul was sitting next to me and he hadn't been in one yet and he's holding my hand and
And I was like, I remember just saying, it's dead, it's dead, it's dead. And Paul was still asking questions. Oh, what's that? What's that? And the lady obviously has to do a thorough scan. So she still has to, on her report, write what's in the top right, the top left, the bottom right. And I was like, get off my tummy, you know, and just tell me what I know. I still remember it very clearly. That first loss was really hard and I knew it would be really difficult
really taxing and hard on Al and obviously for both of us. But, you know, I felt like, you know, keep positive, keep the faith. The Kemptons still had eight viable embryos. So they tried again and again and again. Over 18 months, Alice went through a total of seven IVF cycles. She got pregnant five times and she had five miscarriages. They were horrendous.
I became a very bitter person and very glass half empty when that was not me prior for probably the next year. So I definitely...
went through what did I do to lose this? You know, did I do too much core exercise? Was it playing tennis? Or what did I eat? Or what, like, what, you idiot, you didn't get enough sleep. You know, did I kill this? You know, so that is a horrible self-reflection to do. But
Everyone would do that, I feel. I've never met someone that has a miscarriage without questioning that. People around her, people close to her, started to ask if she and Paul were going too far. I had beautiful friends and family to lean on, but even by this stage, you know, your seventh one...
When you've got so far, I kept getting pregnant families even saying to say, are you guys flogging a dead horse? You know, like, what's your thought process here? And then you just keep looking at them in the eye and say, I've got pregnant. Specialists say, I'm not flogging a dead horse. And the highs to the carrot dangling is too golden, you know, so you press on. Eventually, there were no embryos left.
And when Paul and Alice asked her cousin if she'd donate another round of eggs, she told them she couldn't go through it again. Alice and Paul had gone as far down the IVF path as they could, given their circumstances and Australia's restrictions. They didn't know anyone else they could ask. They decided they'd need to go abroad. That would mean new possibilities, but also navigating new regulatory frameworks. It would also mean new costs. That's after the break.
When you're with Amex Business Platinum, you have the card that helps businesses dream bigger. Get a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business and earn 1.5 times membership rewards points on select business purchases. So you can stock up on what you need to take your business further and get rewarded for growing bigger. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash AmexBusiness.
AI is redefining what's possible for your business. Are you up for the challenge? Microsoft is helping leaders like you get AI ready faster with unified data and simplified platform management, unlocking up to 150% improved output. Just look at the NDA. They're using AI powered insights to deliver more personalized fan experiences. Then there's BMW.
driving change confidently with safe, secure AI tools and guidance. And the Lego house? They're creating new interactive experiences for people to explore. No matter where you are in your business journey, Microsoft is here to help you achieve real breakthroughs that drive impact. Their industry-leading trustworthy AI fuels innovation in ways that are safe and secure.
Business leaders Microsoft surveyed saw an average of 3.7 times ROI per $1 invested in generative AI. Growing and innovating your business is your job. Microsoft helps you achieve that with innovative AI tools and experiences to guide you confidently into the future. Whatever change comes next, let Microsoft help you keep pushing forward. For more details, visit Microsoft.com slash challengers.
In their home country of Australia, Alice and Paul Kempton had gone as far as they could to have a child through IVF, so they decided to look at clinics in other parts of the world. They both have fair hair and fair skin and felt it was important for their baby to look like they did. They also wanted a donor who shared their active lifestyle, who had no history of family illness, and whose eggs had already been used to conceive a child.
So you looked at every single potential country outside of Australia that you could? Yep. We looked at names of clinics. I have probably 40 emails to different clinics in Europe, about 10 to South Africa and lots to America before we, in inverted commas, made a decision to just chase the American dream because financially it's in a world of its own. Yeah.
for IVF, but for really valid reasons. The Kemptons had a lot on the line, both emotionally and financially. They'd already spent a little more than $30,000 for IVF in Australia. Since we were 30, it's been IVF. You know, should we, could we, can we, or is it better for that? While friends were going on holidays or getting houses or, you know, equals in your profession doing all that, you're like...
Oh, I really want to, but our why is so real. Their why? Making a family. So even though the U.S. would easily be the most expensive place to get treatment of the countries they were looking at, they decided to stretch for it. It was the transparency that America has. The level of pre-qualifying donors and just the information you could get on them online
and their family and their siblings and their grandparents. And that was what certainly got me over the line and got us over the line in terms of going down that path. Once they decided on the U.S., the next step was to find a donor. And Alice says American donor agencies had a dizzying number of options. At first, I was going to design a child. So I was looking for phenotype only.
And I was just like, they're going to be smart, they're going to be athletic, and they're going to be tall and good looking. And you know what? Bugger it. I'm going to find it. I'm going to do this. But it wasn't just photos. She was also sifting through family medical histories. I was definitely looking at photos at first for months. And then after a photo, I would read. And as I said, extensive medical, I'd be like, oh, wow, that poor family has
you know, her cousin and her cousin's mum have both had breast cancer, you know, and we know that there is a breast cancer gene. So that's when I might say, oh, maybe not, because we can have that choice. And, you know, that is horrendous to people that have to go through that. But if I can avoid that, we're so lucky. Alice says she spent seven months spinning her wheels, struggling with the weight of the choice she was making. She was working full time and spending four hours a day looking at donor profiles.
She says it was like a dating app. You could just keep swiping and swiping and swiping without making progress.
She went to her therapist for advice. I said, I'm going crazy. How am I going to make this decision? Like, what if I have to look my kid in the eye and say, I'm so sorry I made the wrong decision? You know, I was at the guilt is already there. And because you could Lego piece this potential designer child together, Paul would find me up at 3 a.m., you know, just scroll. I think, you know, and I was exhausted. Her therapist told her to stop looking at photos and focus on what was really important to them.
And then one day, Alice came upon a profile that seemed special, right somehow. Do you remember what it was about her profile that kind of stood out to you? Yeah, absolutely. Her name.
Because most donors are donor A2147 and you never find out their name. And there was, even on the email, new donor Karen. I was like, oh, Karen, cool name. Love it. Go girl. Alice took a quick peek at Karen's photo and then skipped to her medical history.
No red flags. Then I went back to her profile and we were guided to read first and I was like, yeah, she likes pizza. This is so cool. She loves running. Like this is my girl and I can't wait to tell Paul. And then I looked at her and she just smiled. You could see her jumping out at you saying, let me help you. So I vividly remember that, especially because it's on top of
you know, 18 months of trawling and getting very close. You know, like we had spreadsheets about whether it was health, GPA, and then it was literally like, wipe that spreadsheet clear. We've found Karen. Paul needs to wake up. I need to shut. We need to get onto this because she's going to be snapped up.
So Karen Petz is a model from Argentina. Karen has spoken at length with our colleague, Bloomberg reporter Jessica Bryce. She's tall. She's charismatic. She's really smart. She's very nice. And she's gorgeous. And she's also a super producer. Okay.
A super producer, a donor who produces far more than the typical 15 to 20 eggs each cycle. Her first donation was in January 2019. She was 26 years old and she flew to Los Angeles. She was paid $6,000. The retrieval yielded 45 eggs.
And somehow word got out. She still doesn't know exactly how word got out. But within a week or two, this agency called Growing Generations called her up and they said, oh, we want to represent you. Which meant she could charge a lot more per cycle, tens of thousands of dollars.
But Karen told Jessica it wasn't just about the money. This sort of gives her more purpose in life. We spoke to a lot of egg donors who are very open about saying, I only do this for the money. It's an easy way to make a lot of money. And that's not necessarily Karen's case, although she does get paid and compensated very well just because she is, you know, such an elite donor. So elite that the Kemptons worried lots of other people might want Karen's eggs, too.
So they rushed to reach out to her agency before someone else did. And literally, Paul, I can't remember how long he looked at her profile, but then he was like, right, we need to email, we need to email now. I was like, I'm doing it, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it. A representative from the donor agency helped Alice and Paul exchange letters with Karen.
And once that went well, Alice wanted to take it one step further. I said, would she ever meet with us in Skype? And she said, look, it's really not done, but I've got to go back to Karen. And Karen was for it. The meeting was booked for 30 minutes. And it was just hysterical. Like, I talk a lot, but so does Karen. And we were just...
And with Paul, like, he was able to chime in. It wasn't as if it was just two girls. Three of us were just chatting, chatting, chatting, chatting. Suddenly, time was up. The donor agency said they had to end the call. And we were all like, no! Karen and the Kemptons were in. They all boarded flights to Portland, Oregon. Karen from Argentina and the Kemptons from Australia. Alice says half her suitcase held presents for Karen.
They met for pizza. It was August of 2019. Meeting her was awesome. We literally, I think we walked up to each other in the restaurant and gave each other a big hug. And then there was just no awkwardness. It wasn't like, oh, what do you do in the afternoons? It was just straight into banter. The three of them swapped numbers and started a WhatsApp group chat. This was the kind of openness and connectedness the Kemptons had hoped to find pursuing IVF in the U.S.,
But in the back of her mind, Alice says she had concerns. Not long before they made the trip to Portland, Paul had been hospitalized with the flu, and they worried the fever could have affected the viability of his sperm. I had this parrot in my head just saying, remember Paul had the flu in Australia. So I was nervous and really drilling the clinic question-wise, like,
You know, we're not questioning what Karen has to go through, but like I'm going to say you for the sixth or seventh time, we are happy to do a freeze all egg cycle. Like Paul really fried that sperm, you know, like he was sick. The Kemptons didn't want to take any chances. They felt like this was their only shot. They'd paid $25,000 US dollars for Karen's fee, plus a $17,000 agency fee. Then there were $15,000 in travel costs to bring Karen to the US, which was a lot of money.
The clinic charged another $40,000 for the procedures — Karen's egg retrieval, Paul's sperm collection, fertilizing the egg. Add in expenses for their own plane tickets, hormones for both Karen and Alice, several weeks of lodging, food, and a car. All in, the Kemptons had accumulated a debt of more than $170,000.
Things had to go well at the clinic. You have collection day, so that's go Karen, go Paul. And on Karen's side, things went extremely well. 51 eggs. With Paul's sperm, 19 became embryos. And then the Kemptons waited for the results of their genetic testing to come in. It was one of the worst holidays I remember having because I could just, the strain and agony of waiting. I was just devastated.
punching through the motions, trying to enjoy myself, but just petrified. Each day I'm, like, counting down the days till we actually knew. Alice and Paul were at the gym when they got the call. I was on the treadmill and the nurses are just so lovely, so they start off obviously very, Hi, Alice, how's your day? And then just wham. You know, I'm sorry to say none had survived to be viable and I just, I don't think I said anything, I went silent. I got off the treadmill, cried, cried,
Went straight up to the room and then I didn't leave my computer. I just went straight into, you know, how did this happen mode and I'm going to find out how and I'm going to make someone accountable because we knew we'd never be able to do it again financially. Like, you know, we knew from before we even... While you're still positive, you're not talking about it because the thought that you have to do it again isn't there, but we both knew. We always knew America was our last chance and...
I remember just needing to walk, go for a walk by myself, giving Alice space and myself space. Like I just thought it was very devastating at that point. And we thought that was the end really.
One of the first things they did was let Karen know what had happened. I think her first words were, what can I do to help? She was very quick to say, I will donate for free. Like, so quick. You know, it wasn't even me asking. She's like, I'll do it again. The donor agency ultimately got involved and wouldn't let Karen donate for free. But they did offer the Kemptons a 20% discount on the agency fee.
The clinic's medical director said in an interview with Bloomberg, quote, We work with compromised sperm all the time. We thought it was a reasonable plan to move forward. At the time, he wrote the Kemptons to let them know how disappointed their whole team was in the outcome. And the clinic offered them a second cycle with Karen's eggs for free. Even so, the Kemptons had to come up with more money for Karen's second retrieval.
Their debt was now approaching $250,000. We found out on New Year's Eve morning that we had four genetically beautiful embryos. And less than a year later, in late 2020, the Kempton's son, Rupert, was born. It was the best, best day of my life. Like, you know, it's just amazing to have fallen in love with someone
that you love so much, to go through that heartache that we have over a number of years, and then to actually hold Rupert, that to this day would be the most happiest moment of my life. It's an amazing thrill and an amazing achievement. And in 2023, the Kemptons welcomed a daughter, Matilda. Both Matilda and her brother were born from the embryos created from Karen's second egg retrieval. I've always loved children.
having friends and seeing their kids and being like, oh, that's a little bit of you. Like, I love looking at that. And so I definitely look at Rupert and Matilda and I'm like, where's Paul? Where's Karen? Where's me? Alice says she sees all three of them in the kids. I'm headstrong. Yes, Matilda is headstrong. Karen might be headstrong. Paul...
It's her tweak on it, you know. So we call Matilda Hurricane because she'll come in and Paul Rupert is a very perfectionist, dedicated, he's a beautiful, gentle, and then Matilda comes in and just says, I'm knocking that over. You know, here I come. In Australia, it's not uncommon for donor-conceived people to know the identity of their donors.
Several of the country's states have passed legislation giving children the right to know their heritage. And Alice and Paul have embraced that culture with their kids. They have a world map up in their home, so Rupert and Matilda can see where Karen lives in Argentina and where the clinic is in Portland. And they've been open with the kids about how they were born. So we made a decision to make sure we had picture books from the get-go, like age-appropriate books as they grow up. And...
it was important to us for that truthness. And also, we're really proud of how much we love Karen. Like, we would not have our family without her. So in the end, the time, the heartbreak, the money, it all felt worth it. And the Kemptons realize they're lucky they were able to pay for it all. How did you manage to find the money to fund this journey?
I mean, over the course of our whole IVF journey, it would be half a mil and in over a number of years. That's about half a million Australian dollars, which is just over 300,000 US dollars. And a lot of that has been our own savings, but we've had a fair chunk towards the end which involves the America which we've had to borrow. And, you know, rather see it as a
As an upfront amount, you sort of look at it over the course of your whole life. I think you only live once and you only have one chance of having a family. And yes, it's a lot of money up front, but it's an investment in your future. It's an investment in your life. That was the third episode in The Human Egg Trade, our special series about the booming global market for human eggs.
For more in-depth reporting on how the human egg has become a precious resource traded around the world, read The Egg, an investigation by Bloomberg Businessweek and The Big Take. You can read The Egg on the Bloomberg terminal, Bloomberg.com, or in the January 2025 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.
This is The Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder. This episode was produced by David Fox. It was edited by Tracy Samuelson and Ken Armstrong. It was fact-checked by Naomi Ng and mixed and sound designed by Alex Sugiura. Our senior producer is Naomi Chavin. Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso. Our executive producer is Nicole Beamster-Bohr. Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts.
If you liked this episode, make sure to subscribe and review The Big Take wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps people find the show. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week.
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