Australia
Prisoner takes IVF fight to court
Victorian woman Kimberley Castles, 45, was jailed last November for a minimum term of 18 months for welfare fraud.
She began IVF treatment in 2008 but that was interrupted by her jail term.
Castles has so far failed to get the green light from prison authorities to attend a clinic for self-funded IVF treatment so she can have a third child.
Once she turns 46 in December, she becomes ineligible for the treatment.
She has taken her fight to the Victorian Supreme Court, invoking the Victorian Charter of Human Rights to bolster her case.
Her bid to access immediate treatment was refused in court today.
But Justice Robert Osborn ordered she receive a speedy hearing, with the matter listed for June.
He said he was not in a position to second-guess jail authorities who rejected her request.
Castles has been told that her chances of successful IVF treatment lessens with each month that passes.
Outside court, her lawyer Rachel Ball said she was happy Castles would get a speedy trial.
"The key human rights in this case are Kimberley's right to privacy, to make her own decisions about her own family, her right to be treated fairly in prison," she told ABC radio.
"That includes her right to access health care equivalent to the health care that's available to everyone else in the community."
Castles, who was jailed for a maximum three years, is serving her term at central Victoria's minimum security Tarrengower Prison.
(Published by Herald Sun - May 4, 2010)