The following text relates mainly to Australia, North America and Western Europe. As the situation is changing all the time, the text cannot be accurate to the present time.

Australia

In Australia, legislation to regulate IVF was first passed in Victoria in November 1984. In 1988 and 1991, respectively, South Australia and Western Australia also enacted broad legislation. Although committees of inquiry into IVF and related issues have been held in other states, no attempts have been made to enact legislation solely on IVF. However, all the states and both territories have legislated for the legal status of children conceived by ‘artificial’ techniques.

New South Wales

The first self-contained Australian statute dealing with the legal status of artificially conceived children was the Artificial Conception Act 1984 (NSW). It provides that when a husband consents to the use of donor sperm to achieve his wife's pregnancy, he is presumed to have ‘caused the pregnancy’ and to be the child's father. The sperm donor is presumed not to have caused the pregnancy and not to be the child's father, whether the recipient woman is married or not. Both these presumptions are irrebuttable. The Act defines ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ to include partners of opposite sex living together on a bona fide domestic basis.

Victoria

The Status of Children (Amendment) Act 1984 (Vic.) reaches further than the New South Wales Act. In addition to creating a presumption of paternity in favour of a consenting husband, the Act covers children born from donated embryos or donated eggs.