Reproductive technology and surrogacy reforms a step closer
By Media Statement,
Government of Western Australia
| 08. 18. 2021
The course has been set for the development of contemporary legislation to enable more Western Australians to begin a family, reflective of the change in both societal views and technological advancements in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).
The McGowan Government has approved a detailed response to the 122 recommendations made in Dr Sonia Allan's 2019 Review of the Western Australian Human Reproductive Technology Act 1991 and the Surrogacy Act 2008. The response will be tabled in State Parliament this week.
The review was the most comprehensive undertaken since the WA legislation was enacted and involved extensive consultation with the community and stakeholders.
The WA Donor Conception Register would be maintained and people conceived with the assistance of a donor would have improved access to their biological heritage. Benefits for donor-conceived people include access to further information about their identity and medical history.
Support services will be made available to assist both donor-conceived people and their biological donor, and further consultation will be carried out regarding the process of information release, taking into consideration issues of confidentiality...
Related Articles
By Grace Won, KQED [with CGS' Katie Hasson] | 12.02.2025
In the U.S., it’s illegal to edit genes in human embryos with the intention of creating a genetically engineered baby. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Bay Area startups are focused on just that. It wouldn’t be the first...
Several recent Biopolitical Times posts (1, 2, 3, 4) have called attention to the alarmingly rapid commercialization of “designer baby” technologies: polygenic embryo screening (especially its use to purportedly screen for traits like intelligence), in vitro gametogenesis (lab-made eggs and sperm), and heritable genome editing (also termed embryo editing or reproductive gene editing). Those three, together with artificial wombs, have been dubbed the “Gattaca stack” by Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency company...
By Lucy Tu, The Guardian | 11.05.2025
Beth Schafer lay in a hospital bed, bracing for the birth of her son. The first contractions rippled through her body before she felt remotely ready. She knew, with a mother’s pit-of-the-stomach intuition, that her baby was not ready either...
By Emily Glazer, Katherine Long, Amy Dockser Marcus, The Wall Street Journal | 11.08.2025
For months, a small company in San Francisco has been pursuing a secretive project: the birth of a genetically engineered baby.
Backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his husband, along with Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, the startup—called...