Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 8 hours ago
The health minister has ordered a review of Queensland's IVF clinic guidance which legal experts and advocates have described as "discriminatory". It comes after several women were told they could not proceed with fertility treatments, including one patient who was forced to apply to use her own embryos.

Category

📺
TV
Transcript
00:02Debra Poedio has been trying to fall pregnant for six years.
00:06She finally has healthy embryos in storage,
00:08but last month she was told she'd need Queensland Health's permission to transfer them.
00:13How dare you stepping in and telling me,
00:16oh no, you can't do that, you can't, that's my genetic material there,
00:20and I've been wanting a child for so long.
00:23In Queensland, a single sperm donor can't be used to create more than 10 Australian families,
00:28which the law defines as a parent, their spouse and their children.
00:32But in department guidance issued earlier this year,
00:36lesbian couples who both conceive using the same donor count as two families.
00:41This simply does not follow what's in the legislation and does not follow the fairness test.
00:46This appears to be clearly discrimination against lesbian couples.
00:50Ms Poedio's clinic explained one or more same-sex couples have also used her donor.
00:56Under the new advice, those couples now take up additional family allocations,
01:01leaving none available for her.
01:03The clinic applied to Queensland Health for an exemption.
01:06It took eight days before Ms Poedio received an approval.
01:10It was like walking through hell.
01:12In a statement, Health Minister Tim Nichols says he shares many of the concerns
01:17that have been raised in relation to the Department of Health's interpretation of the law.
01:21He's asked Queensland Health to seek further advice as a matter of priority
01:26and that guidance materials be reviewed.
01:29The ABC understands the review process will be completed in the coming weeks.
01:33But until then, couples wanting to grow their family are still at the whim of Queensland Health.
01:40The other side, couples wanting to grow their family,
01:41are still at the level of staying with the
Comments

Recommended