In response to Harrington (page one, September 21) - in Australia, all medical treatment (except unnecessary cosmetic) is taxpayer funded. Universal taxpayer funded health care is a right and a right we take very, very, seriously.

In response to many others - gays and lesbians in this country are excluded from overseas adoption and local adoptions are extremely rare in this country, access to the IVF system is extremely important for those seeking to create families.

These women have stirred up the inevitable criticism about lesbians being parents and have proved that lesbian parents can be every bit as rotten as heterosexual parents (let’s also not forget that these women were likely raised by heterosexuals.)

This case has made headlines because it is the first time in this country that a doctor has been sued for a ‘wrongful birth’ of a healthy baby. It is about consent, not parenting. The lesbian angle is unfortunate.

That being said, I also know from media here that they got a successful pregnancy on the 4th attempt (1st at IVF). As an infertile woman I wonder if they had had to try for many years if they would have considered it a loss to have two babies, or for that matter if their relationship would have survived. The fact that I'm also a lesbian is irrelevant, but I’m in the town where they are suing and it’s a small lesbian community here but I’m mighty glad that I don’t know them.

...is that even stupid people are free to do stupid things.

Just because you don't like how these two women are behaving (arguably, very badly) does not mean that you get to make blanket statements about procreation, homosexuality, women, or babies.

How's that freedom to choose your reproductive future treating you? Good? Great. Now shut up.

This is ONLY about the way a doctor failed to follow his patient's instuctions. I don't know the law's finer points here, so I won't say whether he's liable or not. It certainly looks like he screwed up to me.

The trouble with the assertion that a double standard is at work here is simply that there is no "single standard." Where was there a similar case of a het couple making a similar decision? The situation in the story is unique.

Malpractice, which this WAS, should have to compensate these women.

The issue of lesbians having kids together is a hot button issue made worse by the assinine and irreverent commentary these two have made about their resulting predicament.

Really, men are not a part of this argument and they SHOULD be. Men are not considered worth enough, sperm is free like the wind, and this has to change. Where are OUR reproductive options? What is society doing to COMPENSATE us men for not having all the choices women have? This case and many more to come will bring this issue to the fore and eventually force change.

Twins are difficult to raise but living without children to love is more difficult...

Not to pick on Abby, but this sentiment is precisely why things like this happen. This tired notion that children=happiness, and the absence of children=suffering, and the desperation for modern medicine make right what nature or circumstance got wrong will lead us straight to Gattaca. Call me cynical, but in my observation it seems like many people would be grateful to arrive there.

It is amazing to me that in the 21st century having children is still considered the default option, even among rational people. I shouldn't have to explain why I don't want to have children. Explain to me why you DO.

What is happening to the world? Let me preface everything I am about to say: I am, and have always been, pro-gay rights.

First we are told that we need to accept the true nature of homosexuals. That gay love is legitimate love. I buy that.

Next, homosexuals want to be just like heterosexuals. Well, just in procreation. I am not buying that.

Heterosexuality has already screwed up the world enough in their liberal procreating.

In accepting the true nature of homosexuality, they don't procreate. that is the law of nature. They can parent, they have loving homes... and for as long as there is at least one child on this earth going to sleep hungry - we do not need to manufacture babies (even for heteros). There is no point in lesbian couples making babies (1, 2, or a dozen) - they themselves deny their true natures when they do so.

More importantly, they screw up the kids and then the rest of the world.

Why don't they have the gov't take both kids and pay these two selfish cows off so they can go back to spending time and money on themselves, which is what really matters. They should have gotten a dog instead.

From the linked story:

"The birth mother [...] said she and her partner briefly considered adopting out one of the girls but quickly dismissed the idea. She said adopting out one child would be unfair to both girls. "The burden is not the children's to bear. The burden is ours alone."

Well, if by "ours alone" one means "ours and the doctor who negligently transferred two embryos."

Something just doesn't jibe there.

I wish the story mentioned when the lawsuit had been brought. Was it immediately after the procedure? Immediately after the birth? Or a year later, after the parents realized kids are more expensive than puppies?

The parents would have been better off just suing for malpractice and asking for a multiple of what they paid for the procedure. The rest of the details surrounding the case make the whole story sound WAYYYY too nutty. I doubt they'll get a dime.

Then they would have put one up for adoption.

Why do so many people treat these women as evil/bad mothers for wanting reparation for the medical malpractice they experienced? It's as foolish as saying a woman suing for child support (which this is to some extent, since they want the costs of raising her) must not love her child.

It's ugly, the hating here. Bad mothers, how dare they be upset that the clinic didn't follow their request for only one embryo! Clearly, clearly they must only love one child! (After all, no-one has ever managed to love an unexpected baby, no that's never happened.) Bad mommies, bad bad mommies, how do they dare expect to plan their families, rather than just accept whatever falls out of the sky. You'd think that the Catholic teaching that conception must never be interfered with wasn't the view of all right thinking people.