A convicted killer who was approved to birth a baby behind bars through IVF treatments has withdrawn her application following public outrage.
Alicia Schiller, then 26, brutally killed mother-of-three Tyrelle Evertson-Mostert, 31, in a drug-fuelled row over $50 in Geelong, Victoria, on November 9, 2014.
Schiller was sentenced to 16 years in jail in 2017 – meaning her potential child would live with her at the maximum security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre until they were five.
However, the inmate has since abandoned plans to undergo IVF treatments after several public and private clinics said they would refuse to treat her.
Concerns were also raised over how much taxpayers would pay for the baby’s care in prison despite Schiller promising to use her own money from a property sale for both the IVF clinic and the cost of escorting her there.
Victoria’s Labor government promised to review the laws surrounding IVF treatment for prisoners but stopped a move by the Coalition to introduce a bill banning prisoners from undergoing the procedure.
Schiller told authorities that once the child turned five her mother would raise it – but on Friday the would-be-grandmother revealed she was not onboard with the plan.
The convicted killer came up against another hurdle after Melbourne IVF, Monash IVF and Victoria’s public fertility service said it would refuse to treat a prisoner.
Under the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act, IVF centres can decline treatment of a patient if they believe the child could be ‘at risk of abuse or neglect’.
Tobias Evertsen-Mostert was only 12-years-old when his 25-year-old mother Tyrelle was killed by Schiller – just a year after his father died.
He has previously described Schiller as an ‘animal’ and said the knowledge she wouldn’t be trying for a baby will mean he can ‘sleep a bit easier’.
‘It’s good, for now, I just hope she doesn’t try again,’ he said.
Under current laws, Schiller could be approved for the treatment if she re-applied.
Mr Evertsen-Mostert doesn’t understand why the government can’t put an end to the option of IVF treatment for prisoners.
‘It has the power. It’s not just my family I am thinking about in saying that, it’s other families that may have to go through the same pain that we have,’ he said.
‘If you’ve done the crime you should be doing the time, regardless of what it is.’
