New IVF law to gift hope to more prospective parents

A government minister has delivered an emotional speech about Victoria’s new IVF reforms, revealing the process as it stands had left her “utterly broken”.

Government Minister Gabrielle Williams has used her gruelling IVF journey to deliver an emotional speech about the importance of Victoria’s new reproductive laws.

Ms Williams said the landmark IVF reforms — which would give greater access to donated eggs, sperm and embryos to Victorians wanting to start a family —- would fix “unfair” laws.

The Bill will give participants hope and certainty by refusing a donor’s right to withdraw consent once their sperm has been used to create an embryo.

Currently, a donor is able to revoke consent even after the embryo has been created.

Ms Williams — who is currently pursuing IVF with an anonymous donor — said a man wouldn’t have the right to force a woman to terminate a naturally conceived pregnancy.

“The arrangements as they stand literally remove my reproductive choice and put it in the hands of a stranger,” she said.

“It’s his sperm as long as it is sperm, but once my egg has been fertilised, it ceases to be his sperm. By that stage it is my embryo, and hopefully my baby.

“This means that women like me won’t have to wake up every morning fearing that today might be the day that they get a call from the clinic to says ‘I’m sorry he’s withdrawn his consent and we have to destroy your last chance at having a family’.

“It means that once our embryos are created and stored, we can be comfortable in the knowledge that they are safe and that the only decision that matters is ours.”

Ms Williams said IVF — as it stands — was a “physically gruelling and emotionally exhausting” process.

“It is a rollercoaster of hope and despair, and it can leave you feeling utterly broken,” she said.

“After one recent loss I remember looking down at my own belly in the shower and (saying) ‘What is wrong with you?’ ... I was so angry, I was so upset, and so utterly broken and frustrated.”

Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Aboriginal Affairs and Minister for Women Gabrielle Williams. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The new laws would also allow doctors outside of registered clinics to carry out ­artificial insemination.

They would also enable prospective parents to have related children using the same donor, and address the ­discrimination that many LGBTIQ families are often faced with when using assisted reproductive treatments.

Health Minister Martin Foley this week introduced the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment Bill 2021 to parliament following a landmark independent review.

The Gorton review, conducted by Michael Gorton AM and released in July 2019, made 80 wide-ranging recommendations.

It included reducing the current barriers for people wanting to start a family and allow families to have related children from the same donor.

Currently donors can’t donate to more than 10 women, but a shift to a 10-family limit is set to ensure that same-sex couples and families using surrogacy can continue to use the same donor, even if each child is carried by a different person.

Nurses and other health professionals within registered assisted reproductive treatment clinics will also be able to carry out procedures under the supervision and direction of a doctor. Doctors outside of registered clinics can now also carry out artificial insemination for the first time.

Participants would also get more certainty through changes that would only enable donors to withdraw consent up to the time the eggs or sperm are used in treatment or to create an embryo.

The requirement for donors to consent to the storage or disposal will also be removed.

Mr Foley said single women, LGBTIQ people and rural and regional Victorians were among a host of people that would benefit from the major changes.

He said the reforms would be “life changing” for the thousands of Victorians that were forced to turn to IVF to create their family each year.

“We’re making IVF fairer and easier to access,” Mr Foley said. “Assisted reproductive treatment helps many Victorians achieve their dreams of starting a family, but we know the journey is an emotional rollercoaster.

“These laws deliver on our promise to make treatments fairer, more affordable and easier to access for all Victorians.”

The state government has committed to considering all 80 recommendations over a staged approach.

It has already implemented a number of changes including removing barriers for separated women and scrapping the requirement to undergo police checks before accessing treatment. Amendments have also been made to allow a surrogate’s partner to be reimbursed costs incurred as a direct result of the surrogacy.