Major IVF providers will refuse fertility treatment to convicted murderer Alicia Schiller

Convicted killer Alicia Schiller’s bid to receive fertility treatment while behind bars at a maximum-security prison has hit a roadblock.

Convicted killer Alicia Schiller’s bid to receive fertility treatment while behind bars at a maximum-security prison would be denied by Victoria’s major IVF providers, it’s been revealed.

Schiller was sentenced to at least 16 years jail in 2017 for the murder of housemate, Tyrelle Evertsen-Mostert, three years prior.

The then-25-year-old was found guilty of murder after stabbing Ms Evertsen-Mostert three times while under the influence of ice, having discovered the mum-of-three had taken $50 from her room to buy drugs.

A decade on from the killing, Schiller made headlines this week when it was revealed she has been approved to undergo IVF while housed as an inmate at Victoria’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. It’s understood Schiller would fund the treatment herself and, if successful, raise the child in the prison until it was five.

The news was met with swift, widespread outrage by her victim’s family and MPs alike, who called for Schiller’s extraordinary request to not be granted.

Victoria’s public hospitals have now confirmed they will not treat Schiller, and the state’s IVF providers will also not help her have a baby, the Herald Sun reported on Saturday.

Victoria’s major IVF providers have confirmed they will not offer Alicia Schiller IVF treatment. Picture: Mark Stewart

Both Melbourne IVF and Monash IVF told the publication they would not provide their services to Schiller.

A Melbourne IVF spokesperson said the clinic does not “believe it is appropriate” to offer its services to the convicted murderer “if requested given she is currently in prison serving a very long jail term”.

While a Monash IVF spokesperson referred to a 2020 law in Victoria that stipulates fertility treatment can be refused if a clinic believes the child to be conceived may be at risk of abuse or neglect.

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

Schiller was found guilty in 2017 of murdering mum-of-three Tyrelle Evertsen-Mostert. Picture: Seven News

Despite concern, Schiller’s case could see other maximum-security prisoners seek IVF while serving lengthy sentences, the state government voted down a bill proposed by the Opposition on Thursday to strip prisoners of the right to do so.

Speaking to The Project on Wednesday, Greg Barns SC of the Australian Lawyers Alliance argued Schiller “has a human right to family”.

“You don’t lose that right simply because you’re in prison,” he told the program.

“We are increasing the opportunity for women to give birth and be with their children in prison because that improves rehabilitation.

“The bottom line is, if you are in prison it’s the deprivation of liberty that’s the punishment. You have a right to the same level of healthcare as anyone else in the community.

“That’s the way it’s been for a long, long time and that’s the way it should be.”

Jim and Yvonne Gentle. Picture: The Project

But Ms Evertsen-Mostert’s parents-in-law, Jim and Yvonne Gentle, said the “cold-blooded murderer” had lost the privilege of being a mother.

The couple’s grandson, the youngest of the victim’s children, was inside her Geelong home at the time of his mother’s violent death, then aged four.

“I don’t think that a person that’s been convicted of such a horrific crime as she was convicted of, and did, has those rights,” Ms Gentle told The Project.

“It should be a punishment. You shouldn’t be able to escape for a better position in prison, which I think would probably be the reason that she’s doing it.”

‘I don’t think that a person that’s been convicted of such a horrific crime as she was convicted of, and did, has those rights.’

Ms Evertsen-Mostert was stabbed by Schiller while her youngest son was inside the house.

Mr Gentle said it was “not as though (Schiller) stole a candy bar from a shop”.

“She viciously committed a murder. She took a knife into the place where she knew she wanted to harm somebody, killed the mother in front of a baby, and her other children, which is just terrible,” he said.

“And to think of the poor child. If a child was born in (jail), it’s five years before it comes out, and not fair for the child. The poor kid, you just can’t do that.”

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed taxpayers will not be forced to foot the bill of any staffing, security or transportation costs required between the prison and external IVF clinic.