{"id":314867,"date":"2024-07-03T06:38:08","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T11:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=314867"},"modified":"2024-07-02T11:41:15","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:41:15","slug":"australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/","title":{"rendered":"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

An Australian fertility clinic is under fire<\/a> after families say it destroyed their embryos and is now refusing to give them any answers. The situation underscores the rampant disregard for human lives created via IVF, as well as the widespread lack of regulation in this for-profit industry.<\/p>\n

Amelia Hawkshaw and her husband Zach Longe were one of the couples affected by the tragedy; the couple told ABC News all 17 of their embryos were destroyed after they visited Genea, one of the country’s largest fertility clinics.<\/p>\n

“We got a call \u2026 to say that the embryos had been contaminated with bacteria and so those 17 had to be destroyed, just all of them,” Amelia said. “Those 17 embryos, I think they were all like potential children that we could have had.”<\/p>\n

Another couple, Vikki Muller and Chris Homer, had a similar situation happen and both of their embryos were destroyed.<\/p>\n

“How on earth does that get infected? Just delve a little bit more into that to me, please. Was someone not wearing gloves [when] handling it? I mean what happened?” Chris said. “It just became a source of anger, frustration, sadness, heartbreak.”<\/p>\n

READ: Embattled Australian fertility company accused of using wrong sperm to impregnate patients<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Though these couples are fighting to find out how the contamination happened and to hold the clinic responsible, they are being stonewalled.<\/p>\n

“It’s clear that human error was involved in the incident and human error does happen, but for us, what’s really caused the trauma and affected us long-term has been how we’ve been treated since the incident occurred,” Amelia said.<\/p>\n

Last month, one of the couples enlisted parliament to help put pressure on Genea to be transparent on what went wrong with the embryos, only for that investigation to be blocked because Genea raised “significant concerns” about the release of information with NSW Health.<\/p>\n

The situation underscores one of the biggest problems with the IVF industry, in that it is almost completely unregulated. The first couple affected by the tragedy had 17<\/strong> embryos. It is highly unlikely they had planned to give birth to all 17 of these children, which means that they would have had ‘extras’ to worry about \u2014 a classic example of a situation that has led to more that 1.7 million embryos<\/a> being “thrown away.”<\/p>\n

Furthermore, though the clinic was responsible for the deaths of preborn children, it appears as though it will not be required to answer for the lives that have been lost. The situation seems very similar<\/a> to the recent Alabama case, LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, Inc.,\u00a0<\/em>in which the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that human embryos created via IVF are to be considered children under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. Though that case ruled in favor of parents like these whose embryos were destroyed, it set off a firestorm around the United States with politicians on all sides rushing to ensure that IVF remains protected, despite the fact that it destroys embryos at a higher rate<\/a> than abortion.<\/p>\n

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Australian fertility clinic is under fire after families say it destroyed their embryos and is now refusing to give them any answers. The situation underscores the rampant disregard for human lives created via IVF, as well as the widespread lack of regulation in this for-profit industry. Amelia Hawkshaw and her husband Zach Longe were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":191955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,4,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCouples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Australian fertility clinic under fire after families say it destroyed their embryos and refuses to give them any answers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Australian fertility clinic under fire after families say it destroyed their embryos and refuses to give them any answers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-03T11:38:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-02T16:41:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sad-couple-miscarriage-infant-loss-abortion-regret-pregnancy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\"},\"headline\":\"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-03T11:38:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-02T16:41:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/\"},\"wordCount\":535,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"International\",\"Issues\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/\",\"name\":\"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-03T11:38:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-02T16:41:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"Australian fertility clinic under fire after families say it destroyed their embryos and refuses to give them any answers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\",\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bridget Sielicki\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bridget-sielicki\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos","description":"Australian fertility clinic under fire after families say it destroyed their embryos and refuses to give them any answers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos","og_description":"Australian fertility clinic under fire after families say it destroyed their embryos and refuses to give them any answers.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2024-07-03T11:38:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-02T16:41:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/sad-couple-miscarriage-infant-loss-abortion-regret-pregnancy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bridget Sielicki","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bridget Sielicki","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/"},"author":{"name":"Bridget Sielicki","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f"},"headline":"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos","datePublished":"2024-07-03T11:38:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-02T16:41:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/"},"wordCount":535,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["International","Issues","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/","name":"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-07-03T11:38:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-02T16:41:15+00:00","description":"Australian fertility clinic under fire after families say it destroyed their embryos and refuses to give them any answers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australia-fertility-clinic-destroys-embryos\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Couples left without answers after fertility clinic destroys embryos"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f","name":"Bridget Sielicki","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bridget Sielicki"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bridget-sielicki\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314867"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/607"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314867"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314930,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314867\/revisions\/314930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}