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Latest Surrogacy News
MPs consider rules for
reproductive technologies
Last Updated Fri, 03 Oct 2003 22:30:18
CBC.Ca
TORONTO -
The House of Commons debated a bill Friday that could make
it more complicated for infertile couples to have a baby.
- INDEPTH:
Reproductive Technologies
Bill C-13 deals with many topics, including embryonic
stem cells research and cloning.
The reproductive rules could have a major impact on some
Canadian families. Under the bill, couples wouldn't be able
to pay for donated eggs.
Claire and
Angelique Lawrence play at their home in Toronto |
Like more than 1,500 Canadian babies born every year,
Claire and Angelique Lawrence of Toronto were conceived
through invitro fertilization (IVF).
Their births were made possible when Lori Hickling donated
her healthy eggs to an infertile couple. In exchange, they
paid for her IVF treatments.
The procedure costs $7,000 a shot and about four or five
attempts are needed, said Burke Lawrence, the girls' father.
Bill C-13 prohibits:
- any kind of buying or selling of eggs, sperm and
embryos
- sex selection unless it's to prevent a sex-linked
disease
- paying surrogate mothers for more than lost income or
expenses without receipts.
Dr. Art Leader, an infertility specialist in Ottawa,
supports the legislation in general. But he doesn't think
people will volunteer to donate sperms and eggs and he fears
the supply may dry up.
"Within two years, 6,000 to 7,000 couples would be denied
donor sperm for fertility treatment, and then there'd be
probably another 1,000 couples a year who couldn't benefit
from egg donation," Leader said.
Dr. Patricia Baird headed the Royal Commission on
Reproductive Technology back in the early 1990s. She says
when people talk about paying for donated sperm and eggs,
they need to think about the children who are created in the
process.
"To know that your biological father or progenitor
actually did this for money is a different way of coming in
to the world than knowing that someone was sympathetic with
people who couldn't have a family," said Baird of the
University of British Columbia.
Hickling and Laurence say they're relieved they were able
to complete their family before the legislation was
introduced. They've kept two embryos frozen in case they
want to have more children.
Written by CBC News
Online staff
Dr. Patricia Baird
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