(LIVEACTION) – An Australian fertility clinic is under fire after families say it destroyed their embryos and is now refusing to give them any answers. The situation underscores the rampant disregard for human lives created via IVF, as well as the widespread lack of regulation in this for-profit industry.
Amelia Hawkshaw and her husband Zach Longe were one of the couples affected by the tragedy; the couple told ABC News all 17 of their embryos were destroyed after they visited Genea, one of the country’s largest fertility clinics. “We got a call … to say that the embryos had been contaminated with bacteria and so those 17 had to be destroyed, just all of them,” Amelia said. “Those 17 embryos, I think they were all like potential children that we could have had.”
Another couple, Vikki Muller and Chris Homer, had a similar situation happen and both of their embryos were destroyed. “How on earth does that get infected? Just delve a little bit more into that to me, please. Was someone not wearing gloves [when] handling it? I mean what happened?” Chris said. “It just became a source of anger, frustration, sadness, heartbreak.”
