IVF participants need more support and clearer options when deciding what to do with unused frozen embryos, a new national study has found.
Researchers from the Sydney University of Technology’s law faculty found states including Tasmania had limited legal structures in place to support people making decisions about frozen embryos.
Many IVF participants end up with a surplus of embryos and the report, officially released today, makes 57 recommendations for changes to laws, policy and practices covering storage limits, the use of embryos after the death of a partner and donation of embryos.
Professor Jenni Millbank, an author of the report, said the five-year storage limit should be doubled to give people more time to expand their families or consider other alternatives.
“Law should not set blanket storage periods that enforce destruction of embryos after a set period, nor should they prevent donation (to other infertile people) if that is desired,” she said.
The findings were based on interviews with 54 people across Australia including two Tasmanians, who had either donated or received donor embryos, or gone through a separation since freezing embryos. Read full article.