A laboratory technican of the company Icon Genetics prepares proteines from Tobacco plants (Nicotiana benthamiana) for weighing in a laboratory in Halle, August 14, 2014. Icon Genetics develop a technology to mass produce Ebola vaccine with the help of to
In Photo: A laboratory technican of the company Icon Genetics prepares proteines from Tobacco plants (Nicotiana benthamiana) for weighing in a laboratory in Halle, August 14, 2014. Icon Genetics develop a technology to mass produce Ebola vaccine with the help of tobacco plants. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

Fertility clinics in Australia are considering overseas sperm donors because of the shortage of local donors amid the high demand from single women and same-sex couples for male seed.

The shortage is also partly caused by a national ban on anonymous donation which turned off potential male donors.

Peter Illingworth, medical health director of IVF Australia, said sourcing sperm from overseas would work in the country if the source nations implement the same ethical and legal standards that Australia follows. In particular, he cited requiring the disclosure of the full identity of the sperm donor to give the child who would be born from the IVF the opportunity to be given more details about the man who sired them through laboratory procedures and not the natural way of sexual intercourse between man and woman.

While all the Aussie states agree on a ban on anonymous donation, the number of times a man could donate his seed varies. New South Wales allows a man to create five families via sperm donation, while Queensland and Victoria has double the limit at 10 families.

To select future donors, Aussie fertility clinics are using Skype to meet potential sources of sperm.

YouTube/IVF Australia

Sperm shortage is also felt in the United Kingdom which recently established the world's first independent national sperm bank in Birmingham - the result of a collaboration between the National Gamete Donation Trust and Birmingham Women's Hospital.

Because of sperm donor shortage, the waiting list is up to five years that some would-be parents via IVF procedure stopped taking treatment, said Sue Avery, director of the Women's Fertility Centre in Birmingham.

The Department of Health gave the project a £77,000 grant that would cover 1,000 regular donors within three years. Women who would get pregnant could choose a donor based on physical looks, hobbies and profession.