Surrogacy in Canada

Last updated

Surrogacy is legal in Canada provided that it is altruistic (unpaid). The Assisted Human Reproduction Act of 2004 criminalizes commercial surrogacy. The validity of surrogacy contracts and the process for establishing parenthood of the child is governed by provincial law. Quebec law did not recognize surrogacy contracts from 1994 to 2023, and continues to regulate them more strictly, whereas British Columbia has the most permissive laws governing surrogacy. [1] Provinces also vary in the degree to which they compensate surrogacy expenses, such as IVF procedures.

Contents

Between 2001 and 2012, 803 IVF-conceived births were recorded for gestational surrogates in Canada (statistics on traditional surrogacies - in which the surrogate mother is also the egg donor - are not available). [2]

Canada has become a popular site for international surrogacy, in part due to its high-quality universal health care and relatively liberal regulations.

The Assisted Human Reproduction Act of 2004 makes it illegal to pay a surrogate mother, egg donor, or sperm donor. It also outlaws commercial "intermediaries" from arranging surrogacy services or matching prospective parents and surrogates. It establishes the minimum age for surrogate mothers at 21. [3]

The act allows for intended parents to reimburse a surrogate mother for out-of-pocket expenses incurred in relation to the surrogacy including, for example, maternity clothes, medications, and travel. A surrogate mother may be reimbursed for lost wages if a doctor declares in writing that bed rest is medically necessary. Reimbursements must generally be backed by receipts, and may not result in financial gain for the mother. [4]

As of 2018, there has only been one conviction under the act: a 2014 case in which an Ontario company, Canadian Fertility Consultants, was fined $60,000 for purchasing eggs and paying surrogates. [5] [6]

Quebec

Until it was repealed on June 6, 2023, Article 541 of the Quebec Civil Code rendered all surrogacy contracts null. [7] [8] In a 2009 case, a Quebec surrogate gave up her legal claim to her baby, having made an arrangement with a couple. The intended father was recognized as a legal parent because his sperm had been used to conceive the child, but the court denied any legal rights to the intended mother, leaving the child with no legal mother. [9] In four subsequent cases, Quebec courts have allowed intended parents to adopt a child born via surrogate. [1]

International surrogacy

Canada has become an attractive location for foreign intended parents, who may not be able to legally enter into a surrogacy agreement in their home country. In 2016 and 2017, 45 of 102 babies born to surrogates in British Columbia had intended parents outside of Canada (nation-wide statistics are not collected). [10] While it is illegal under the AHRA for Canadians to pay a surrogate mother, Canadian surrogates may legally accept payment for surrogacy from foreigners, provided that the transaction occurs outside Canada.

Canada is one of the few countries which allows foreign surrogacy, and does not discriminate on the basis of marital status or sexual orientation. Its system of universal health care also relieves intended parents of covering the cost of pregnancy care, birth, and neonatal care. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In vitro fertilisation</span> Assisted reproductive technology procedure

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro. The process involves monitoring and stimulating a woman's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova from their ovaries and letting a man's sperm fertilise them in a culture medium in a laboratory. After the fertilised egg (zygote) undergoes embryo culture for 2–6 days, it is transferred by catheter into the uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority</span>

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body that regulates and inspects all clinics in the United Kingdom providing in vitro fertilisation (IVF), artificial insemination and the storage of human eggs, sperm or embryos. It also regulates human embryo research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assisted reproductive technology</span> Methods to achieve pregnancy by artificial or partially artificial means

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) includes medical procedures used primarily to address infertility. This subject involves procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), cryopreservation of gametes or embryos, and/or the use of fertility medication. When used to address infertility, ART may also be referred to as fertility treatment. ART mainly belongs to the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Some forms of ART may be used with regard to fertile couples for genetic purpose. ART may also be used in surrogacy arrangements, although not all surrogacy arrangements involve ART. The existence of sterility will not always require ART to be the first option to consider, as there are occasions when its cause is a mild disorder that can be solved with more conventional treatments or with behaviors based on promoting health and reproductive habits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surrogacy</span> Arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a child for designated parent(s).

Surrogacy is an adoption arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to childbirth on behalf of another person(s) who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, dangers or undesirable factors of pregnancy, or when pregnancy is a medical impossibility.

Third-party reproduction or donor-assisted reproduction is any human reproduction in which DNA or gestation is provided by a third party or donor other than the one or two parents who will raise the resulting child. This goes beyond the traditional father–mother model, and the third party's involvement is limited to the reproductive process and does not extend into the raising of the child. Third-party reproduction is used by couples unable to reproduce by traditional means, by same-sex couples, and by men and women without a partner. Where donor gametes are provided by a donor, the donor will be a biological parent of the resulting child, but in third party reproduction, he or she will not be the caring parent.

Egg donation is the process by which a woman donates eggs to enable another woman to conceive as part of an assisted reproduction treatment or for biomedical research. For assisted reproduction purposes, egg donation typically involves in vitro fertilization technology, with the eggs being fertilized in the laboratory; more rarely, unfertilized eggs may be frozen and stored for later use. Egg donation is a third-party reproduction as part of assisted reproductive technology.

The main family law of Japan is Part IV of Civil Code. The Family Register Act contains provisions relating to the family register and notifications to the public office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It created the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority which is in charge of human embryo research, along with monitoring and licensing fertility clinics in the United Kingdom.

Fertility tourism is the practice of traveling to another country or jurisdiction for fertility treatment, and may be regarded as a form of medical tourism. A person who can become pregnant is considered to have fertility issues if they are unable to have a clinical pregnancy after 12 months of unprotected intercourse. Infertility, or the inability to get pregnant, affects about 8-12% of couples looking to conceive or 186 million people globally. In some places, rates of infertility surpass the global average and can go up to 30% depending on the country. Areas with lack of resources, such as assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), tend to correlate with the highest rates of infertility.

Sperm donation is the provision by a man of his sperm with the intention that it be used in the artificial insemination or other "fertility treatment" of one or more women who are not his sexual partners in order that they may become pregnant by him. Where pregnancies go to full term, the sperm donor will be the biological father of every baby born from his donations. The man is known as a sperm donor and the sperm he provides is known as "donor sperm" because the intention is that the man will give up all legal rights to any child produced from his sperm, and will not be the legal father. Sperm donation may also be known as "semen donation".

Religious response to assisted reproductive technology deals with the new challenges for traditional social and religious communities raised by modern assisted reproductive technology. Because many religious communities have strong opinions and religious legislation regarding marriage, sex and reproduction, modern fertility technology has forced religions to respond.

<i>Assisted Human Reproduction Act</i>

The Assisted Human Reproduction Act is law enacted by the Parliament of Canada. Its purpose is to regulate assisted human reproduction (AHR) and related research. It is one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation in the world concerning reproductive technologies and related research. It was introduced and passed in 2004 and was fully in force by 2007.

Partner-assisted reproduction, reception of oocytes from partner (ROPA), reciprocal IVF,shared motherhood, partner IVF or co-IVF is a method of family building that is used by couples who both possess female reproductive organs. The method uses in vitro fertilization (IVF), a method that means eggs are removed from the ovaries, fertilized in a laboratory, and then one or more of the resulting embryos are placed in the uterus to hopefully create a pregnancy. Reciprocal IVF differs from standard IVF in that two partners are involved: the eggs are taken from one partner, and the other partner carries the pregnancy. In this way, the process is mechanically identical to IVF with egg donation. Reciprocal IVF offers the highest chance for pregnancy and a lower chance of a multiple births.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surrogacy laws by country</span>

The legal aspects of surrogacy in any particular jurisdiction tend to hinge on a few central questions:

Law in Australia with regard to children is often based on what is considered to be in the best interest of the child. The traditional and often used assumption is that children need both a mother and a father, which plays an important role in divorce and custodial proceedings, and has carried over into adoption and fertility procedures. As of April 2018 all Australian states and territories allow adoption by same-sex couples.

Commodification of the womb is a Marxist concept related to the sale of functions performed by the human uterus.

LGBT parents in Canada have undergone significant progress in terms of both legal and social acceptance. Same-sex couples who wish for parenthood now enjoy equally the possibilities, responsibilities and rights of opposite-sex couples. Following the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage in 2005, the number of LGBT families in Canada has increased substantially, paving the way for same-sex couples' aspirations of having their own children. Legal methods of assisted reproduction range from insemination via IVF through to surrogacy arrangements.

Louisa Maria Ghevaert is a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.

Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation is a US-based surrogacy and egg donation agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Circle Surrogacy carries an audited success rate for intended parents having a baby at 99.3%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Use of assisted reproductive technology by LGBT people</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people people wishing to have children may use assisted reproductive technology. In recent decades, developmental biologists have been researching and developing techniques to facilitate same-sex reproduction.

References

  1. 1 2 Morawetz, Colleen (November 20, 2015). "Whose Kid Is It Anyway? Parentage Contracts for Surrogacy in Quebec".
  2. ↑ White, Pamela M. (January 1, 2016). "Hidden from view: Canadian gestational surrogacy practices and outcomes, 2001-2012". Reproductive Health Matters. 24 (47): 205–217. doi: 10.1016/j.rhm.2016.06.006 . PMID   27578354.
  3. ↑ Branch, Legislative Services (June 9, 2019). "Consolidated federal laws of canada, Assisted Human Reproduction Act". laws-lois.justice.gc.ca.
  4. ↑ "Surrogacy and IVF in Canada: What you need to know". toronto.citynews.ca.
  5. ↑ "What should be done about Canada's assisted reproduction laws?" – via The Globe and Mail.
  6. ↑ Motluk, Alison (February 4, 2014). "First prosecution under Assisted Human Reproduction Act ends in conviction". CMAJ. 186 (2): E75–E76. doi:10.1503/cmaj.109-4687. PMC   3903755 . PMID   24366888.
  7. ↑ "Quebec surrogacy contracts may soon be recognized | CBC News".
  8. ↑ "Article 541 - legislative History".
  9. ↑ "Born to surrogate, child has no legal mother, Quebec judge rules | CBC News".
  10. 1 2 "How Canada became an international surrogacy destination" – via The Globe and Mail.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.