Tuesday 12 June 2018

Canadian MP's bill to decriminalise surrogacy and donor payments


A private member's bill aims to decriminalise payments for sperm, eggs and surrogacy in Canada.

It's time Canada got it right,' said Sarah Cohen, founder of Fertility Law Canada.

Canada has a shortage of gamete donors and surrogates so most couples who need surrogacy have to go abroad, often to the USA where paid surrogacy is legal in some states but can be extremely expensive.

A shortage of sperm donors within Canada means that most sperm used in fertility clinics is imported.

Cohen points out that most of this sperm comes from paid donors anyway, with the added difficulties of lack of control over how many families are created from a single donor, and lack of donor information for the resulting children.

The Association of Reformed Political Action Canada oppose the bill: 'Our law needs to respect the best interests of all children and to defend their human dignity.

' Dr Alana Cattapan, assistant professor at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan advises legislators to wait until Health Canada issues clearer rules about sperm, eggs and surrogacy, expected later this year.


https://www.bionews.org.uk/page_136205