Professor Fiona Kelly, Dean of the La Trobe Law School, has been re-appointed for a second term to the Board of the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA).
VARTA is Victoria’s statutory authority that regulates assisted reproduction (including in-vitro fertilisation) and manages the state's donor registers. It also provides information and support to individuals, couples and health professionals on fertility and infertility, assisted reproductive treatment and the best interests of the children born.
Professor Kelly was first appointed to VARTA’s Board in 2019. She specialises in family law and health law, with a focus on the legal regulation of assisted reproduction and donor linking. Professor Kelly has published extensively in Australian and international journals on the legal regulation of parentage in the context of assisted reproduction and the ethics of sperm donor anonymity.
"Victoria is at the global forefront of regulating assisted reproduction,” explains Professor Kelly. “We were the first jurisdiction in the world to ban donor anonymity, and to provide donor-conceived people with retrospective access to their previously anonymous donor's identity."
The decision to open the state's donor records has had far reaching consequences and VARTA is at the centre of managing that complexity.
"The Board makes decisions about the import and export of donor sperm and eggs, how to deal with complex donor cases, and the management of adverse incidents in IVF clinics,” says Professor Kelly.
“Being on the Board of VARTA gives me new perspectives on an industry I have researched for over a decade and allows me to witness the complex impact of Victoria's reforms in practice."
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