By Ashley Scott, Executive Officer, Rainbow Families Australia

Yesterday was one of those days that reminds me exactly why we do this work.

I had the privilege of appearing before a NSW Parliamentary Committee (NSW Parliament select committee on fertility support and assisted reproductive treatment) on behalf of all of you, our community of LGBTQ+ parents, parents-to-be, and the families you are building with so much love and determination. I want to share what I said, because these issues belong to all of us.

The donor sperm crisis is real and it's hurting our families

Last year, without consultation, the NSW Government reduced the limit on donor sperm use from 10 families to just 5 families worldwide, including the donor's own family. Overnight, the pool of available donors shrank dramatically and many of our families who were already well into their IVF journeys were left without options.

We have heard from so many of you about how devastating this has been. One community member shared this with me, and it has stayed with me ever since:

"It's such a terrible feeling. And a lonely one. I wish they could tell us when more donors will be allowed through the system. It seems they have put a freeze on everything... We started our journey in July, when there were donors available, now there are ZERO donors and it's been like that for months."

No one starting a family should feel that desperate or that alone. Our families deserve so much better than that, and I told the Committee the fix is straightforward: increase the family limit back to 10, and apply it nationally.

Affordable IVF should be for everyone, not just those who can afford it

So many of you told us about the financial toll of IVF, families having to sell their homes, empty their superannuation, and put their lives on hold just to have a chance at parenthood. What makes this even harder is that low-cost public IVF clinics in NSW do not provide access to donor sperm banks. That means if you don't have a known donor, affordable treatment is simply not available, regardless of how long you have been waiting or how hard you have been trying.

I asked the Committee to fix this by ensuring public IVF clinics provide access to donor sperm banks, so that every family can access treatment, regardless of their financial situation.

Our surrogacy laws need to catch up with our families

For families who have walked, or are walking, a surrogacy journey, the current laws create unnecessary pain. Across Australia today, a surrogate remains the legal parent of a child they never intended to raise for up to six months after birth, while the parents have no legal standing. That needs to change, and parents should be recognised from birth, with appropriate safeguards in place.

I also spoke about the need for a regulated, capped compensation model for surrogates, so more journeys can happen here in Australia where they can be properly supported and overseen. And I called on the Committee to remove the criminalisation of international commercial surrogacy, a law that has never resulted in a single prosecution, but has succeeded only in leaving children without legal recognition of their parents.

We are already here

Rainbow families are not a future possibility. We are present, we are growing, and our children are living their lives right now. They deserve the same legal certainty, the same access to care, and the same dignity as every other family, and I look forward to continuing to fight for that alongside every one of you.

With love and solidarity,

Ashley Scott

Executive Officer

Rainbow Families Australia