Mothers Are Calling for Urgent Reform After IVF Error Leads To Youth Suicide Attempt

In a powerful plea to the federal government, two Australian mothers are calling for urgent legislative reform of the nation’s fertility industry after claims that an 11 year old boy attempted to take his own life following the discovery of a IVF error.

Demands for national IVF laws and donor database

Anastasia Gunn, a Queensland mother, and Katherine Dawson, a national advocate for donor-conceived rights, have penned an emotional letter to federal Health Minister Mark Butler demanding the establishment of national laws and a donor database to regulate IVF procedures and prevent further heartache.

Ms Gunn, whose family has been at the centre of an IVF baby swap scandal, claimed her son’s suicide attempt was directly tied to the discovery that he and his siblings were not fully related by blood, a revelation that emerged through DNA testing after the children developed serious health conditions.

“We want the minister to realise that laboratory mistakes have real human impact throughout generations,” Ms Gunn told The Saturday Courier Mail. “We want everyone to know that.”

Her son, who suffers from a host of chronic medical issues including hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, severe chronic fatigue, and autism spectrum disorder, now battles long-term chronic pain.

Ms Gunn and her partner, Lexie, are currently suing Queensland Fertility Group over claims that the wrong sperm donor was used in the conception of two of their three sons.

The emotional and physical toll has been immense for their child, who has struggled not only with chronic pain but with the emotional impact of his disrupted genetic identity, so much so that they claim he attempted to take his own life.

“Imagine a boy that young being so sad, not only about his physical pain but the fact that through DNA testing he found out that all three brothers were not fully connected with the same blood,” Ms Gunn said.

“That has been so hard on him, he feels a deep sense of lost familial connection.”

 

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Ms Dawson, who co-authored the letter to Minister Butler, has echoed these concerns and cited multiple tragic cases in which donor-conceived individuals took their own lives due to emotional trauma caused by secrecy, mismanagement, and lack of access to genetic information.

“I am aware of Victorian donor-conceived people that have attempted to or taken their own lives,” Ms Dawson said.

“These feelings are complex and often completely caused or worsened by the practices, mistakes, treatment by clinics and traumatic encounters donor-conceived people experience with clinics,” she continued.

“We are asking our health minister to step in to protect current and future Australian families from this irreparable and profound damage.”

The call for reform comes in the wake of the resignation of Monash IVF CEO Michael Knaap, after two separate cases involving devastating embryo mix-ups, one in Queensland and another in Victoria.

Ms Gunn further revealed that her eldest son, now 18, has been denied access to the identity of his sperm donor, a breach of national health guidelines. Advocates argue this lack of transparency is unacceptable in modern healthcare.

For Australia’s LGBTQIA+ families, who often rely on assisted reproduction to create their families, these errors are not just technical glitches they are deeply personal, life-altering breaches of trust. The emotional impact is compounded by the community’s historic struggle for recognition, equality, and access to healthcare that respects their unique family structures.