Buying sperm online. Author Julie Ma. Vintage wedding photos - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

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

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