Last updated 4 March 2025

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis

Other legal issues can arise as a result of using assisted reproductive technology (ART) services. The law currently permits a couple with numerous embryos to have them screened for certain genetic disorders. This screening process is known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) or pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT). Such testing could, theoretically, be used to facilitate sex selection of embryos. However, the Assisted Reproduction Technology Act 2024 (Qld) (ART Act) prohibits the use of ART services to produce a child of a particular sex, except in circumstances where ‘… it is necessary for a child to be of a particular sex so as to reduce the risk of the transmission of a genetic abnormality or genetic disease to the child’ (s 24 ART Act).

Ownership of embryos after separation

Disputes sometimes arise about the ownership of frozen embryos where a couple either separate or divorce. Usually, an agreement would have been made about the future use of the embryos, where the couple determine, at the time they seek ART services, what should be done with embryos in such situations. Clinics are required to ask participants to stipulate, at the time they give consent to assisted reproductive treatments, what should be done with frozen embryos should the couple separate. Section 20 of the ART Act stipulates that a gamete provider can withdraw or vary their consent at any time unless an embryo (created from the gametes of the person wishing to revoke consent) has been implanted into another person’s body. If consent is revoked or varied prior to the implantation of an embryo, this would prevent another party from using the embryo(s).

This means that stored (frozen) embryos cannot be used for reproductive purposes unless both partners agree. It also likely means that the stored gametes/embryo(s) must be removed from storage should one party wish to revoke their consent to use and storage of them. However, cases have arisen in other countries where women have sought to use embryos that were created with a partner’s sperm, following the couple’s separation and where the former partner withdraws consent. In one English case, frozen embryos were created with the former male partner’s sperm, and the use of those embryos represented the woman’s only remaining opportunity to have her own biologically related child. This argument was not successful in persuading the court to give the woman permission to use the frozen embryo(s) in an IVF procedure.