Major change to IVF treatments for donors and families

Women whose IVF care was paused due to providers exceeding donor limits will be given exemptions to complete treatment.

NSW Health announced it would wave through certain treatments weeks after discovering embattled provider Monash IVF had potentially breached a five-women limit in effect in the state.

The state's IVF laws says sperm or eggs from a single donor can only be used via assisted reproductive technology in five different women.

But Monash IVF had assumed that meant five women in NSW, not globally.

The issue - adding to a series of bungles at the publicly listed reproductive behemoth - caused it to immediately pause treatments for all NSW women in mid-September to allow it time to review its records.

The exemption announced on Thursday will allow women who were undergoing treatment before October 1 to resume treatment.

"Recognising the significant emotional, physical and financial impacts the misinterpretation ... would have on women and families, through no fault of their own, the NSW government is creating an exemption to allow affected women and families to continue their treatment," a NSW Health spokesperson said.

Women who had an embryo held in storage, had reserved a gamete held in storage or had reserved the use of a particular donor's gamete and started treatment before October 1 can finish the procedures.

The government will not take regulatory action against a provider breaching the five-women limit if they fall into one of those categories.

Monash IVF thanked the government for the exemption and "their ongoing support of donor patients".

"We know this has been an incredibly difficult time for our patients and we have worked closely with NSW Health to advocate for our patients," it said.

When announcing the pause in September, Monash said it was not the only IVF provider affected by the advice in NSW.

The five-women limit is designed to minimise the risk of unintended inbreeding between donor-conceived people in the future.

Monash was embroiled in more controversy earlier in 2025 when it was involved in two embryo mix-ups.

The provider revealed staff had transferred the wrong embryo to a woman at a Melbourne clinic in June following a similar blunder involving a separate Monash patient in Brisbane.

The bungles sparked an independent review that found human error and technological limitations were to blame.