| Author(s) | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | |
| Publication Year |
Navigating in Murky Waters
Legal Issues Arising from a Lack of Surrogacy Regulation in Quebec
From: Surrogacy in Canada
$3.10
In Chapter 3, Kévin Lavoie and Isabel Côté respond to this call for more empirical data and present their findings from a series of interviews in Quebec. Their chapter describes a series of interviews with people in Quebec who engaged in surrogacy as a form of family building, including surrogates as well as intended parents (focusing on gay fathers, and heterosexual mothers). The authors identify four principal themes running through these interviews: the negotiation and formalization of surrogacy agreements; medical considerations; financial considerations; and the establishment of filiation or parentage. Based on these interviews, they conclude that “legal vagueness” — namely, the absence of a coherent and reliable legal framework in the province — is a critical factor that exacerbates the vulnerability of parties involved in surrogacy arrangements. They call on both the federal and provincial governments to embark on a thorough reform of surrogacy practice in Quebec and Canada.
Contributors
Kévin Lavoie
Kévin Lavoie is a PhD candidate in applied human sciences at the Université de Montréal. He received the Vanier Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Laval University and a master’s degree from the University of Quebec in Outaouais (UQO), both in social work. His current research focuses on assisted human reproduction: sperm donation outside the reproductive health system, as well as the experiences of women involved in egg donation and surrogacy agreements in Canada. With Isabel Côté and Jérôme Courduriès, he co-edited the volume Perspectives internationals sur la gestation pour autrui: expériences des personnes concernées et contextes d’action (2018).
Isabel Côté
Isabel Côté is an associate professor at the Department of Social Work at the Université du Québec en Outaouais and a researcher at the Centre for Studies and Research on Family Intervention, the Familles en mouvance research partnership, and the Réseau québécois en études féministes. Supported by provincial and national funding, her research projects focus on the realization of a parental project with the help of a third party, a sperm donor, or a surrogate. She is particularly interested in the relationship between third parties and intended parents and the resulting children. In collaboration with Kévin Lavoie and Jérôme Courduriès, she directed Perspectives internationales sur la gestation pour autrui: Expériences des personnes concernées et contextes d’action, a collective work published by the Presses de l’Université du Québec in 2018.
