Fed: Tim Costello backs Howard on IVF ban

AAP General News (Australia)
08-14-2000
Fed: Tim Costello backs Howard on IVF ban

CANBERRA, Aug 14 AAP - Social justice campaigner Reverend Tim Costello today backed
the federal government's stance on preventing IVF treatment for single women and lesbians.

The idea of bringing children into the world where a father was never anticipated was
a quantum leap for society and created huge ethical questions, he said.

"On this one I must express some sympathy with (Prime Minister) John Howard's position,"

Mr Costello, normally a critic of the coalition's social policies, told reporters.

"I know that gay people and single mums often can be as good and much better parents
than people who are in a heterosexual, orthodox marriage.

"It's not a question of their fitness or their care, for me.

"For me, it is the question socially and culturally and, in terms of the taxpayer subsidising
IVF treatment to where, say, a father is never anticipated, I think that is a very significant
quantum jump in the culture."

Mr Howard plans to introduce legislation early next week to amend the Sex Discrimination
Act to allow states to restrict access to IVF.

Mr Costello said that in a world where 40,000 children died each day from malnutrition
and preventable diseases, he was a little uncomfortable with the idea of allowing IVF
for women without male partners.

"I know infertility is an awful curse ... but to spend huge dollars on IVF medical
technology and seeing children come into existence where a father may never, ever be anticipated,
in a world of such suffering for children at large, raises huge ethical questions for
me," he said.

AAP dep/mfh/cjh

KEYWORD: IVF COSTELLO

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