WDYT - police checks for IVF

[cheeeeesecake]

Hmmm it's a tricky one. Imagine if a IVF clinic provided IVF for couple of whom one was a convicted paedophile, that person became a parent, and then they went on to abuse the child - could the IVF clinic not get in trouble for assisting a convicted paedophile to become a parent and have unlimited access to a child?

I know that anyone can have a baby traditionally without a police check, so it does seem unfair - but the reality is, with assisted fertility, you are now involving a third party in the process of conception - whereas traditional conception only involves the mother and father, and their own decisions in creating a child together. Surely it stands to reason that the third party involved in conception has a responsibility to ensure they are behaving in an ethical manner? If a mother wants to create a child with a convicted paedophile, then it is only HER morals that are involved in making that decision (and the paedophile themselves). But if a IVF clinic becomes involved, they have a moral responsibility to the child, to the parents, and to society as a whole.

[babymummatobe]

I honestly think it's fine, however should be nation wide.
If it prevents even one case of a child being born into the wrong hands then it's worth it.

I can imagine it would only be for preventing access to IVF to someone with child related offences.

If only there were a way to screen everyone, that would be good.

[GirlsRock]

I was undergoing IVF in 2009 and I fell pregnant. Sadly I miscarried and had a D&C on new years eve 2009. My very next IVF cycle was in January 2010 and as of 1 January that year it became law in Victoria that couples undergoing IVF needed a police check and DHS check to ensure they were fit to be parents. The check was just ONE MORE THING that we had to do to have a baby. It might seem like not much, but honestly, when undergoing IVF it seems that the world is against you at every turn, and having to do that check was so upsetting particularly given that just 4 weeks previously I was pregnant, I was already a mother of one IVF conceived child. It seems so unfair that only one very small percentage of the population have to have this check before having a baby.

I'd be so interested to hear how many people have been knocked back from doing IVF because of the police check. My view is that given Victoria is the only state doing the checks, that anyone who had an offence would simply go interstate or overseas.

[MysticFalls]

Agree with girls rock and what she said.

I knew of Victorian couple who moved states to get around it.

I'm still in the camp if they want to do it do it for all!!

The family who has that girl from Thailand and left baby gammy are atrocious for he is a child sex offender. But they were from Perth.

It needs to be for all or it's discrimination