Infertility laws driving Canadians couples to black market: Critics
Canada’s fertility laws are driving infertile couples who are desperate for babies into the black market or abroad and need to be reformed, critics say.
The six-year-old law prohibiting payment for sperm, eggs or surrogacy services has Canadians seeking paid surrogates in India. They’re travelling to the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Romania and the Czech Republic for in vitro fertilization (IVF) using donor eggs. Some are buying fresh sperm over the Internet.
Only days ago, Health Canada issued an advisory warning about the dangers to mothers and their future children of using fresh donor semen for assisted conception. Message boards, Facebook groups, advertisements and websites are offering free sperm for willing recipients.
The law criminalizing payment for donor gametes or surrogates is putting desperate couples “in the hands of people that may not be competent or qualified,” says Liberal MP Dr. Carolyn Bennett, a former public health minister.
“I just think it’s horrible that people can’t have that appropriate kind of care here in Canada.” - montrealgazette.com