Doors Open In Victoria For Single Women And Lesbians
Last night, dozens of mothers with children in the public gallery cheered and applauded when they learned the Upper House MPs voted 20 to 18 in favour for legislation that allows gay and single women access to fertility treatment.
The amendment was soon passed in the lower house just after 11pm and made official.
Parliamentary Secretary for Justice and Labor MP Brian Tee introduced three amendments and said the Bill was all about the rights of the child.
“That’s why it’s a great result,’’ he said.
Attorney-General Rob Hulls, who announced the legislation last December, said it was ground-breaking reform. “It’s long overdue, it modernises our laws and it ends discrimination against people who haven’t been able to get access to ART (assisted reproductive technology),’’ he said.
Under the bill, women accessing IVF treatment are still required to undergo police checks, even though outspoken doctors and a former judge had condemned this action in the past.
In addition, the Government was forced to introduce amendments regarding surrogacy and identity matters, as some MPs’ support for the bill was waning. These amendments mean that a who uses IVF to become a surrogate mother cannot do so for her first child, nor can she use her own eggs. If something goes wrong there will be more counselling on hand. And children born this way will have “donor conceived’’ marked next to their name on the birth register, but not on their birth certificate.
madmatty76
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