Donor conception legislation in Victoria, Australia: the "Time to Tell" campaign, donor-linking and implications for clinical practice

The State of Victoria in Australia was one of the first jurisdictions in the world to introduce legislation regulating donor conception. Under the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984 (Vic), donor-conceived people, aged 18 years and over, parents of children under 18 years, and donors gained the right to apply for the release of identifying information about each other recorded in a Central Register. As a result, of this and subsequent legislation, services providing donor treatment were obliged to change clinical practice relating to recruitment of donors, counselling of donors and recipients and recordkeeping. Since this legislation was introduced in 1988, over 5,000 donor-conceived children have been born and in 2006 the first 100 of these children reached the age of 18. The Victorian Infertility Treatment Authority (ITA) conducted a public education campaign to provide information and support to people affected by the legislation. This article describes clinical practice changes prompted by legislation, the 'Time to Tell" campaign and the service model developed for linking parties on the donor registers. The Victorian experience demonstrates that laws allowing the parties involved in donor conception access to information about each other must be accompanied by changes to clinical practice, public education about the implications of the laws, and services to meet the needs of those seeking information relating to donor conception and those contacted as a result.     

'States Should Not Impose Penalties on Arriving Asylum-Seekers'

[17/03/2008] A minimum of solidarity with those oppressed isto receive them when they are forced to flee. The ‘rightto seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution’is indeed a key provision in the Universal Declaration of HumanRights. Sadly, this right is not fully observed in parts ofEurope today. Instead, refugees are met with suspicion and toooften even placed in detention. It has to be repeated that some of those who seek to enter Europehave well-founded fear of persecution. They are under threatbecause of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, politicalopinion or membership of a particular social group. Some ofthem have already suffered serious ill-treatment in their countryof origin. They are refugees