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Surrogacy in Canada
Toward Permissive Regulation
From: Surrogacy in Canada
$2.70
Many have responded to Health Canada’s request for input on the regulations under the AHRA by calling for more sweeping reforms to the regulation of assisted reproduction in Canada. Erin Nelson is among those who believe that the AHRA should be reformed. In Chapter 6, she urges us to consider a significant overhaul to the regulation of surrogacy in Canada, including decriminalizing commercial surrogacy. She argues that the current regulation of assisted reproduction cannot be justified, as it is neither effective nor necessary. Nelson takes the position that both altruistic and commercial forms of surrogacy should be permitted, but she advocates careful oversight to minimize the potential for harm and to promote the interests of children, surrogate mothers, and intended parents. Such oversight could be accomplished by an arm’s-length oversight body that reviews and monitors surrogacy agreements and/or the provision of services by surrogacy consultants or agencies.
Contributors
Erin Nelson
Vanessa Gruben is an associate professor and a member of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Common Law, where she teaches health law and family law. Her research focuses on the legal and ethical aspects of assisted reproduction, including the constitutionality of Canada’s Assisted Human Reproduction Act, the legal relationship between egg donors and their physicians, the constitutionality of anonymous sperm and egg donation, access to reproductive technologies, and the existing gaps in provincial law for families created through third-party reproduction. Gruben’s work is funded by the Social Science and Humanities and Research Council, Canadian Blood Services, and the Foundation for Legal Research. She is a co-editor of the fifth edition of Canadian Health Law and Policy (LexisNexis Canada, 2017).
