In McBain v State of Victoria (2000) 99 FCR 116, Dr. John McBain, a Melbourne fertility specialist, was approached by Ms. Lisa Meldrum, a single woman seeking in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) using donor sperm. Dr. McBain advised her that the Infertility Treatment Act 1995 (Vic) prohibited him from providing IVF to unmarried women.
The applicants, P. and S., were daughter and mother. P., a fourteen-year-old girl, was raped and impregnated by a classmate. Abortion in Poland is available in the case of rape so in May 2008 P. received a certificate from the public prosecutor to allow her to get a legal abortion in Poland. She went to three hospitals who refused to perform the operation: one brought her to a Catholic priest—who urged her not to get an abortion—without her permission. Hospital officials issued a press release after which anti-abortion campaigners harassed P. A criminal proceeding against P.
In R. v. Davidson Supreme Court of Victoria (1969), Dr. Charles Kenneth Davidson, a medical doctor, was charged with four counts of unlawfully using an instrument and one count of conspiring to use an instrument or other means with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman. The Supreme Court of Victoria held that an abortion would be lawful if the accused had an honest and reasonable belief that the procedure was both “necessary” and “proportionate.”
In this context:
