Lesbians lose Australian court battle over twins

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian lesbian couple have lost a controversial court battle after trying to sue their doctor for having healthy twins from an in vitro fertilisation procedure (IVF), with doctors on Friday praising the verdict.

"If there's an outcome which is a healthy, live baby, these things shouldn't end up in the courts," Dr Paul Jones, from the doctors' body the Australian Medical Association, told Australian radio on Friday.

The couple had sought about A$400,000 ($385,000) in compensation from their obstetrician after they had healthy twin girls instead of one baby, telling the court the stress of the second baby had damaged their relationship.

But the Supreme Court in Canberra dismissed the civil case and ruled the doctor was not negligent for implanting two embryos instead of one during the IVF procedure.

The case started in September 2007 and sparked an angry debate about the value of children and whether gay couples should have access to assisted fertility programs, with public reaction overwhelmingly against the lesbian couple.

At the time the couple, who cannot be named, issued a statement saying the case was never about their love for their twin girls, now 4 years old, but about a doctor's failure to comply with their request for only one child.

Australians undergo about 50,000 IVF cycles each year, with 10,000 IVF babies born in the past year, accounting for about one in every 33 births.

A Sydney mother with two sets of twins -- the first twins coming from IVF -- told Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper she could understand the desperation that would encourage the women to sue, but said the court action was misguided.

"There is something so terribly sad about a coupe who view the birth of healthy twin girls as a mistake for which they should be compensated," said Jenny Wills, whose two sets of twins were born 17 months apart.

($1=A$1.04)

(Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Alex Richardson)