The NSW Parliament has passed legislation regarding assisted reproductive technology. In the new Act there are provisions for a central donor registry for donors of gametes and embryos, with the prohibition of commercial surrogacy agreements.
Furthermore, single donors cannot be used that will result in children being born to more than five women. The NSW Anti-Discrimination Act and Health Tissue Act will no longer apply to donor procedures, making it possible for donors to specify characteristics of recipients of the gametes including ethnicity and marital status.
The Victorian Government will enact changes based on the recommendations of the Victorian Law Reform Commission report on assisted reproductive technology and adoption. It also dealt with laws relating to surrogacy. Non-commercial surrogacy will be allowed with clinical infertility no longer a requirement for surrogacy. The law will allow the female partner of the child’s mother to be recognised as a parent of a child conceived using assisted reproduction.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Statistics Unit has identified 118,700 frozen embryos in storage around Australia. Just under 50% of the frozen embryoes have been in storage for more than 2 years.