Sydney Morning Herald – “Dark cloud to fertility act’s silver lining” by Jen Vuk
Preposterous demand for police checks has been met by silence.
A NEW era in Victoria’s assisted fertility legislation is about to dawn. From January 1, single Victorian women and lesbian couples will be able to access IVF in their home state rather than having to travel north for treatment.
The Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) Bill, which will also allow male gay couples access to IVF by surrogates, was passed in December last year, and arrived on the back of recommendations made by the Victorian Law Reform Commission to bring the state’s assisted reproductive treatment regulation into line with NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and the ACT.
For those it assists in becoming parents there’s no denying the act’s silver lining. It has the potential, as researchers Giuliana Fuscaldo and Sarah Russell argued last year, to legitimise "the idea that biology alone does not define parenthood".
Now for the dark cloud. The act also requires all Victorians jumping on to the IVF carousel to undergo police checks and child protection order checks. As Dr Lyndon Hale, director of Melbourne IVF, told the ABC recently: "The argument forwarded by the Government is that this is Government funds that are being used to help these people get pregnant and therefore they require extra checking."
How is it that the colour of money can make even the most complex of moral issues suddenly seem so black and white?