(Re) Producing lesbian infertility: Discrimination in access to assisted reproductive technology

Abstract

This paper discusses a small corpus of Australian anti-discrimination cases from the 1990s dealing with access to assisted reproductive technology by single women and lesbian women. Two central propositions emerge from the paper's analysis of these cases: first, the less a complainant's circumstances appear to conform to the norm of the heterosexual nuclear family form, the less likely it is that exclusion from access to reproductive assistance will be considered to be discriminatory; and secondly, the further one moves towards a medical paradigm framing the issues in terms of a 'medical need' for fertility treatment, the less likely it is that eligibility criteria which exclude 'alternative' family forms will be considered discriminatory. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the premises behind and implications of the proposed amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).