Arabic version: المحكمة العليا تؤيد استئناف سجينة لتجميد البويضات

According to ABC News, the High Court has ruled in favour of Queensland prisoner Rachel Smith, who is seeking to freeze her eggs while serving a jail sentence.

Smith was part way through a 10-year sentence for drug trafficking when she applied to Queensland Corrective Services for approval to undergo a privately funded oocyte cryopreservation procedure. The department automatically refused the application, citing Queensland laws it said prohibit inmates from accessing “assisted reproductive technology”.

Her lawyers argued that egg freezing was not covered by that definition because it was only a “preparatory” step. Smith challenged the refusal first in the Supreme Court and then in the Court of Appeal, but did not persuade Queensland’s appellate judges.

She then sought leave to appeal to the High Court. Following a hearing in Canberra last month, five High Court judges on Wednesday allowed her appeal.

The court ruled that the 2024 decision by Queensland Corrective Services should be quashed. It ordered that the matter be returned to the department for determination “according to law”. Queensland Corrective Services was also ordered to pay Smith’s legal costs.