Minister instructs Qld Health to review 'discriminatory' fertility guidance
Several women were told they could no longer proceed with their treatments after the release of the Queensland Health guidance earlier this year.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls has ordered Queensland Health to examine its fertility clinic guidelines, which advocates and legal experts claim are discriminatory. The guidance advises fertility providers to consider two women who conceive using the same sperm donor as two separate families for the purposes of donor limits. This has caused issues for lesbian couples, who were informed they could not proceed with their treatments because they had surpassed the limit on the number of families that can use a sperm donor.
Queensland Health defines an Australian family as a parent, their children, and their spouse, if any. However, in February, Queensland Health released guidance advising fertility providers to count same-sex couples as separate families, which has been labeled as discrimination against lesbian couples. A lesbian couple, Deborah Poerio, has been undergoing IVF for six years and, after creating four embryos, learned she could not proceed with the transfer because her sperm donor had reached his family limit.
Monash IVF, her fertility clinic, had to apply for an exemption, which was granted by Queensland Health, but Poerio feels it is "ridiculous" she needed to ask for such an exemption. Health Minister Nicholls acknowledged the concerns raised about the department's interpretation of the law and has asked the department to seek further advice and review the guidance materials.
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