Should a woman be allowed to undergo IVF, if her partner has been convicted of a sexual offence?
According to a patient review panel in Australia, who are challenging a landmark ruling to allow a convicted sex offender's wife to undergo fertility treatment, the answer should be No.
The panel is urging the Court of Appeal to quash a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) decision last year that overturned an automatic ban on IVF access, arising from the sex offender's conviction.
Should this man have the right to IVF treatment?
According to the Herald Sun, the landmark hearing last year gave the green light to an unnamed sex offender to proceed with the costly IVF treatment, despite a 12-month jail sentence for his crime.
The 34-year-old man and his wife had started the IVF treatment, but were banned from continuing after he was convicted of sexual offence in 2009.
The Patient Review Panel originally denied the couple access to the treatment in 2010 once he had served his sentence, citing the new Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act as the reason. This act bans criminals from fertility treatment.
However, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal overturned the decision in 2011, claiming that the man posed no serious danger to minors.
"It is important to appreciate that the purpose of this review is not to further punish (the man) for his offending - a just punishment has already been imposed by the County Court,'' then VCAT president Justice Iain Ross ruled, reports the Herald Sun.
The Patients Review Panel appealed this ruling today and are hoping to overturn the ruling in the Supreme Court.
Explaining their reasons behind the appeal, Kerri Judd from the Patient Review Panel has said that their focus is not on the man reoffending, but of the best interest in the unborn child.
“What we want is for the correct test to be applied,” Judd told The Australian.
“Whatever test is formulated the focus needs to be on the interest of the child.”
