IVF clinics are being forced to destroy the embryos of grief-stricken families due to a Victorian law that lets sperm and egg donors withdraw their consent after fertilisation.
Leading fertility lawyer Stephen Page said he was aware of at least four Melbourne families who had been told this year that their embryos would be destroyed due to the law, which he described as “unintentionally cruel and crushing”.Victoria is the only Australian state that allows donors to withdraw their consent up until the moment an embryo is transferred into a woman. In other states, donors can only withdraw their consent prior to fertilisation.
She also doesn’t want to have to go through the ordeal and expense of having her eggs harvested again. Professor Fiona Kelly, the dean of law at La Trobe University and a family and health law expert, said she didn’t understand the justification for Victoria’s unusual laws.