“I wanted children, so I contacted a serial donor on Facebook. I paid £50 for a vial of s**t and a syringe. But what will I tell them when they ask me about their father?”

She wanted to have a child more than anything else and at the age of 33 she must have thought that there was no longer any chance of having them ‘naturally’. So, instead of turning to specialized clinics, also because of the very high costs of the procedures, she turned to a man who boasted on Facebook about his extraordinary procreative ability.

This is the story – not to be imitated – of Alison Ready who, for the love of motherhood, gave birth to two beautiful children thanks to her questionable online research. And now that Isobel7 years old, and Robert4 years old, they grew up, the woman he began to have doubts about the moral correctness of this practice. “I was so excited that my dream of having children could come true that I didn’t think about the implications,” the woman explained to Mail Online. The donor, Simon Watsonquickly became known for his procreative abilities and charged £50 for each vial containing his semen, which he himself labelled a ‘magic potion’.

So, Alison’s two children could have hundreds of half-brothers and half-sisters scattered around the world. But this is not the only doubt that, with hindsight, the woman has raised. Also because Watson, despite boasting certificates of good health, It is not subject to the strict controls required of donors in fertility clinics. Which is why Isobel and Robert may be susceptible to unknown hereditary diseases.

Nevertheless, Alison continues to be reticent about reveal the identity of the biological father to his children. “Obviously it’s their right to know, but I don’t want to tell them I made them from Facebook for £50,” she confesses. “Becoming a mother was something I needed on a very basic level and my two children are special. But the way I had them is not something I want to own up to. I feel guilty.”

The goal, however, is not so much to confess her sins, but to help those who, like her, feel the desperate need to start a family even before finding the right partner.I hope my story can help other women to think twice before using an unauthorized donor. Watson says he wants to help people become parents, but now I think it may have something to do with power and ego, and how many times he can spread his seed. Now that I’ve thought about the potential consequences for my children, I think he should be stopped. What he’s doing should be against the law.”

But on this point it would be easy to contradict Alison. Because, to date, There is no law that prohibits donors from using Facebook to advertise their ‘work’. In the UK, each donor can donate to a maximum of ten families. But there is nothing to stop them from continuing to donate abroad or via social media, even if this limit is exceeded.

The rule that limits donations to UK clinics, in fact, does not apply abroad and, according to the HFEA (Human Fertilisation And Embryology Authority), the body that regulates fertility clinics, there is the possibility that the same donor could have contributed to the procreation of many newborns.

As for payment, British donors cannot receive money, but they can ask for a reimbursement of expenses. And although the HFEA advises against using Facebook groups, many women are forced to do so because of the very high costs of the clinics.

Among these, there is also Alisonwho, after having passed the age of 30, expressed her desire to become a mother. Thus, a friend advised her to search on Facebook. Alison didn’t think twice and rushed off to find an ideal dad: Simon Watson had appeared in a BBC documentary and his success rate was deemed ‘encouraging’ by Alisonwho contacted him to arrange a meeting. When he showed up for the appointment, Watson handed the woman a vial of sperm and a syringewith whom Alison proceeded to inseminate in a bathroom. The height of their interaction, writes the Mail Online, “it was a simple cash payment of £50”.

The first time, however, it didn’t work. It took six weeks for Alison’s pregnancy test to be positive. “I was thrilled,” the woman explains. “I felt I had made the right decision, despite the circumstances.” And the satisfaction was enormous, so much so that the woman returned to Watson for an encore a few years later. On the first try, Alison got pregnant with Robert.

After a few months, however, the feelings of guilt have arrived: “I felt tied down, because I had to keep it a secret. Otherwise, I would have become the single mom who used Facebook to have kids. Now, I don’t know if I did the right thing for my kids, but I don’t regret my kids, they are the most precious thing in my life,” she concluded.