Responsive regulation of cross-border assisted reproduction

This article considers the question: how might Australian regulators constructively respond to the dynamic and complex challenges posed by cross-border assisted reproduction? To begin, the article summarises the available international scholarship and outlines what little we know about Australian cross-border reproductive travel. Of the three generally proposed responses to cross-border reproductive care (prohibition, harm minimisation and harmonisation), the article summarily rejects the first approach, and instead discusses a mixture of the latter two. The article proposes the beginnings of an immediate policy response aimed not at stopping cross-border practices per se, but rather at understanding and reducing the risks associated with them, as well as flagging the pursuit of more ambitious meta-goals such as developing more equitable and accessible treatment frameworks for assisted reproductive technology and encouraging domestic self-sufficiency in reproduction.