appearance by Eve Wiley; appearance by Kristian Heckmann.
In 2018, 32-year-old Texas native Eve Wiley found out a devastating truth—her biological father wasn’t who she thought he was.
Wiley learned her mother had used a sperm donor when she was seven. Two years later, she went to meet the man whose DNA she shared, Donor 106. For 13 years, their relationship flourished. But then her identity was turned upside down when she learned that Donor 106 was not, in fact, a DNA match. Turned out, Dr. Kim McMorries—her mother’s fertility doctor—had mixed his own sperm with that of Donor 106 to conceive Eve. Dr. McMorries was actually her father.
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Wiley’s story is one of dozens that have emerged over the past few years. As DNA testing rapidly expands, so have stories about other doctors who have misled their patients across the country, and the world. And the children of such patients are uncovering half-siblings that they never knew they had. In one case in Indiana, over 50 children have been identified from one doctor.
Perhaps most shockingly, this form of fertility fraud has gone unpunished. But some in the legal profession, like Jody Lyneé Madeira, PhD, wants to change that. She’s calling the use of sperm in this way medical rape. And the movement to reframe what’s happened to women who have been defrauded by their doctors in this way is growing. In May of this year, Indiana signed into law legislation that will help protect individuals and couples against fertility fraud and deception. Then in June, Texas passed a law making fertility fraud punishable under sexual assault. Eve Wiley set this bill in motion in Texas as part of her journey, what she calls, "bringing changes, not charges.” Eve continues to lobby for more regulation in the highly profitable fertility industry.
Watch Refinery29’s Truth Told episode to learn more about Eve’s story, and the fight to hold fertility fraudsters accountable.