MPs consider rules for reproductive
technologies
TORONTO - The House of Commons debated a bill Friday that
could make it more complicated for infertile couples to have a
baby.
Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) October 28, 2003
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.
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
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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 |
