Responsive Regulation of Cross Border Assisted Reproduction
25 Pages Posted: 24 Nov 2015 Last revised: 16 Mar 2017
Date Written: November 22, 2015
Abstract
My question in this paper is: how might Australian regulators constructively respond to the dynamic and complex challenges posed by cross border assisted reproduction? To begin I summarise the available international scholarship and outline what little we know about Australian cross border reproductive travel. Of the three generally proposed responses to CBRC: prohibition, harm minimisation and harmonisation, I summarily reject the first approach, and instead discuss a mixture of the latter two. The paper proposes the beginnings of an immediate policy response aimed not at stopping cross border practices per se, but rather at understanding and reducing the risks associated with them, as well as flagging the pursuit of more ambitious meta-goals such as developing more equitable and accessible treatment frameworks for ART and encouraging domestic self-sufficiency in reproduction.
Keywords: cross border assisted reproduction; IVF; surrogacy; egg donation; international reproductive travel
JEL Classification: K33, K42, K23
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation