Aussie Lesbians Lose Fertility Case

by Tom Miller

Two women in Australia decided to visit a fertility clinic 4 years ago and undergo IVF (in vitro fertilization). The women explicitly wanted 1 child but the doctor at the clinic installed 2. We’re guessing that he was just playing the old IVF odds to make sure that 1 baby took. Or he goofed. Or as a goof (note: recycled joke from the original post on this story back in September ‘07, not that you read it). So, these women declared that the second child had seriously upset their relationship and would cost them roughly another $385,000 to raise. And of course they wanted to be made whole.

Per Yahoo News, the Australian Supreme Court dismissed the civil case and ruled that the doctor was not negligent in using 2 embryos. The case caused a major ruckus in Australia about who gets access to IVF, government assistance for the service, and general reproductive rights questions. Some loud sector (fine, louder sector) of Australians questioned whether reproductively sound gays and lesbians should receive fertility assistance. Public reaction, naturally, was against the couple.

Penultimate point: the couple pleads that the case is not about not wanting the second child, but the doctor’s responsibility. Sure, it’s pretty tough raising twins, no one’s going to argue that. Not that every pregnancy story has to go back to Knocked Up, but there is a sweet line by Seth Rogen about not using the condom was the best thing he’s ever done. Hopefully, this will be the final outcome of this scenario.

Finally, does anyone know any good studies about twins related to the parents? Are there higher instances of marital strife, separation, or divorce? We can imagine that the Parent Trap game could breakup even the happiest marriage. Twins have weird, secret powers.