Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2021
The Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act passed by the Parliament of Victoria, Australia in 1984 was the first legislation anywhere in the world to deal specifically with the regulation of in vitro fertilization and embryo experimentation. As with any pioneering legislation, it has had its problems. Prominent among them was the question of precisely when an embryo comes into existence. This question, which may seem mere semantics, gave rise to a heated controversy with real practical consequences for researchers and infertile couples. The issue was only resolved by the Victorian parliament passing an amendment which specified, more precisely than any legislature had done before, the moment at which egg and sperm become an embryo. This enactment could be seen as a legal declaration of when a life begins—although it remains an open question what legal or ethical significance such a starting point possesses.