At the same time as reproductive technologies stretch the notion of the family beyond the nuclear, and just as Canada bends to accommodate that evolution, a prevailing piece of federal legislation is being accused of inadvertently forcing a slew of prospective parents underground.
At the root of this underworld, some argue, is the 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act — the Canadian government’s most comprehensive attempt to regulate reproductive technologies. Some onlookers fear that the legislation has created a secretive black market, where couples seek sperm and egg donors on Craigslist or in university libraries.
Where those couples quietly compensate donors for their gametes, despite the legislation that criminalizes doing so. Where lesbian couples lie to doctors about their sexual orientation to avoid paying to quarantine a friend’s sperm for six months. And where doctors and counsellors sometimes adopt the credo of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell.”
The act — which is a result of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies in 1993 — has triggered condemnation from the right and left, and was the focal point of an International Women’s Day conference in Toronto last week. There, at the Law Society of Upper Canada, panellists argued that some of the legislation does more to imperil and confuse prospective parents and their offspring than it does to protect them.
The act’s aftermath has some significant real-world, legal implications, said lawyer Kelly Jordan, who specializes in family law and assisted reproductive technologies at Toronto firm Jordan Battista.
“Right now, we don’t have any guidance about the rights of donors, carriers and surrogates, and there has been virtually no case law in Canada to deal with those questions,” Ms. Jordan said.
“For example, if an egg donor in Ontario dies without a will, do her genetic children inherit her estate? Can a sperm donor be ordered to pay child support? Those are some of the questions that have yet to be answered.”
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Why does it have to be complicated? If someone “donates”, they lose colour of right… period… It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. The law doesn’t have to be a “make-work” project for bottom feeding lawyers.
Agreed with #1. If you “donate” a lottery ticket to a charity and it wins are you entitled to some of the winnings? Also, there is no way a donated egg should have legal rights to anything owned by the donor – once the title has changed hands the original bond should be legally severed.