Major IVF clinics say they will not treat murderer Alicia Schiller after authorities grant approval for the treatment

Convicted murderer Alicia Schiller is facing an uphill battle to conceive the baby she wants, with both Victoria’s public hospitals and major IVF clinics unwilling to provide the treatment to her.

Convicted murderer Alicia Schiller. Picture: Norm Oorloff

A killer seeking to undergo IVF treatment while behind bars is facing a baby ban.

The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal that the state’s public hospitals will not treat convicted murderer Alicia Schiller, while major IVF clinics will also not help her have a baby.

It was revealed by the Herald Sun on Wednesday that Schiller, who violently stabbed a mother to death, had been given the green light by Victorian authorities to be released from prison to receive IVF treatment.

Schiller was sentenced to at least 16 years’ jail in 2017 after murdering her Geelong housemate Tyrelle Evertsen-Mostert over $50 in a drug-fuelled rage three years prior.

The bombshell IVF revelation sparked public outrage this week, but Tyrelle’s mother Jo on Friday welcomed news that Schiller now faced a treatment boycott.

Tyrelle Evertsen-Mostert was murdered by Schiller in 2017.

A spokesman from Melbourne IVF, one of the largest providers in the state, confirmed on Friday the murderer would not be able to rely on their services.

“While Melbourne IVF is not providing services to the convicted murderer, we don’t believe it is appropriate to do so if requested given she is currently in prison serving a very long jail term,” he said.

A Monash IVF spokeswoman also confirmed it is not providing IVF services to Schiller.

“Generally speaking, anyone who wants to start a family has the right to seek fertility investigations and treatment. However, we always consider the best interests of any future children,” she said.

“While it is rare for us to refuse to treat a patient, there have been times when we have had to turn a patient away because we could not be satisfied that the treatment was in the best interest of any children that may be born as a result of receiving treatment.”

The Saturday Herald Sun understands Victoria’s public IVF service – an initiative launched by the Andrews government in October 2022 – would also decline to treat Schiller, if she made an application.

On Friday, Jo praised the IVF clinics for their decision.

“It’s absolutely fantastic that some people have got brains,” she said.

“Finally somebody has done something right.

“It just makes a mockery to those who really want children.”

A young Schiller at the Supreme Court. Picture: Mark Stewart

The Saturday Herald Sun understands that two other major clinics, Genea and No. 1 Fertility, are not providing any treatment to Schiller.

One IVF industry figure said they did not want to risk their patients feeling uncomfortable.

“The last thing our patients expect to be doing is sitting in a waiting room with a convicted murderer and a bunch of police standing there,” they said.

The development means Schiller could be forced to seek treatment from a small, boutique IVF clinic.

If refused treatment by any provider, Schiller could apply to a panel for a review.

But under the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act, which covers private and public IVF services, the “welfare and interests of persons born or to be born as a result of procedures” are considered “paramount”.

Schiller is serving her sentence at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. Picture: Kylie Else

The Herald Sun had been told Schiller, in her mid 30s, planned to raise the child in prison until it was five years old before it was placed in the care of her mother.

But Schiller’s mother on Thursday confirmed, through her lawyer, that she would not care for the infant if her daughter fell pregnant.

There are special units at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre where women can live with their children while serving their sentences.

Schiller has told other inmates she funded the IVF treatment by using the proceeds of a property sale, with Premier Jacinta Allan insisting taxpayers would not be forced to stump up any of the staffing, security or transportation costs between the prison and an IVF clinic.

However, Ms Allan said the costs of raising children in custody comes out of an operational budget of Corrections Victoria.

The Allan government on Thursday voted down a bill proposed by the Opposition to strip prisoners of the right to access IVF.

Schiller was sentenced to at least 16 years’ jail.

A Supreme Court ruling from 2010 granting an inmate the right to undergo IVF is understood to have been a major factor in the decision to allow Schiller to receive treatment.

In that case, Kimberley Castles, 45, successfully argued she should be allowed to continue her fertility treatment, which she was getting prior to being jailed.

Meanwhile, a Queensland court has knocked back a drug trafficker’s bid to freeze her eggs during her decade-long prison term.

Drug trafficker Rachel Smith, 33, described as “the brains” of a $1m drug ring, planned to have the eggs fertilised and implanted after she leaves prison in 2031.

But the Supreme Court found that the state’s Corrective Services Act bans Ms Smith from applying for access to medical examinations and treatment for the extraction and freezing of her eggs.