Consent and counselling for egg donors

Sequence

Three points where the law steps in

1. Counselling, before the donation

   • NSWA provider must ensure counselling is available to anyone proposing to provide a gamete, “at the place where the gamete is to be provided”, and offered “before the gamete is provided”. The Act adds that nothing in the section “requires a person to make use of the counselling service”, and that a counsellor may charge a reasonable fee.
   • VICSection 18 requires that, before consenting to the use of their gametes, a person has been counselled by a counsellor working for a registered ART provider, covering among other things the matters the regulations prescribe. One prescribed matter is what the Act requires about disclosing the donor’s identity to the Donor Conception Registrar, and to a person born from the donation who seeks it; the Regulations list the rest.
   • QLDSection 15 says a provider “must provide counselling services” to a person proposing to donate a gamete, provided or made available before the donation. The Regulation’s list of matters includes the social and psychological implications of donating, the effect of the donor’s consent, and the timing for changing or withdrawing it; that is a selection, and the Regulation has the full list.
   • WAWhere the recipient is unknown to the donor, Direction 5.7 requires information that “strongly encourages the donor to seek assistance with decision making and counselling from a counsellor” and sets out the donor’s entitlement to counselling through the clinic. Direction 5.7 says more; the Directions hold its full text. Where the donor is known to the recipients, Direction 5.8 requires the donor, the recipient and any spouse or de facto partner of each to have undertaken psycho-social counselling, or other preparation the Council has approved, before any procedure.

2. Consent, in writing

   • NSWA gamete provider may give the provider “a written notice, in the approved form (if any), setting out the gamete provider’s wishes in relation to the gamete”. NSW Health says gametes can be used only in a way consistent with that consent, so people keep control of their own genetic material.
   • VICDonated gametes may be used in a treatment procedure only if the donor consented to their use in a procedure of that kind, and the consent must specify the number of women who may be treated with them.
   • QLDConsent must be prior and in writing, and the donor’s consent must include the maximum number of families and the maximum period of use, each within the Act’s limits. It cannot limit who receives the donation on the basis of a protected attribute; Queensland Health gives sex, sexuality, marital status and ethnicity as examples.
   • WABefore a donation, Direction 3.2 requires effective consent from the gamete provider “and the gamete provider’s current spouse or de facto partner (if any)”. Under section 22(8) of the Act, a consent is not effective unless it is in writing. Donors must also be made aware of how the Artificial Conception Act 1985 affects legal parentage.

3. Changing or withdrawing consent

   • NSWConsent may be modified or revoked at any time up until, for a donated gamete, “the gamete is placed in the body of a woman or an embryo is created using the gamete”. The Act sets matching points for a gamete used to create a donated embryo, and for any other case.
   • WAConsent can be varied or withdrawn by notice to whoever keeps the gametes, but not once the gametes have been used.
   • QLDQueensland Health says consent can usually be changed or withdrawn, but only until certain treatment steps occur.
   • VICThis site’s sources do not hold Victoria’s rule on when a donor’s consent can be withdrawn; the Act is the place to check.

NHMRC guidelines

What the national guidelines ask of clinics

The NHMRC’s guidelines, which are ethical guidelines for clinics rather than law, also ask for valid consent to each specific procedure, supported by access to counselling.

On who may donate, the guidelines say clinics must not accept donations from children and young people, as each jurisdiction defines minors, for use by others.

Time limits

How long a donation may be used

In this site’s sources, two states put a clock on donated gametes. In New South Wales, a provider needs the Secretary’s written authorisation to use a donated gamete obtained more than 15 years earlier. In Queensland, the chief executive’s approval is needed to use a donated gamete obtained more than 15 years before the procedure, and within that limit the donor’s consent sets the period.

How many women or families a donation may reach is the subject of Donor limits by state; what a person born from the donation may later learn is in Who can learn a donor’s identity. All five rows sit on the comparison sheet.