Fertility Law Canada™ at D2Law LLP - Sara R. Cohen, LLB.



                                               


                                                      
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Blogging about a Blog - A Tale of Two Mothers

1/2/2014

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If you follow me on twitter or facebook, you know that I am very actively reading what is being written about surrogacy, egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation and IVF in Canada and around the world, and I love to share this information with others who are interested in these topics, too.  Once in a while, I come across something truly exceptional about third party reproduction in Canada that warrants more than a facebook or twitter post.  Tonight I came across a blog that is a must read for anyone who is contemplating surrogacy in Canada (either as a gestational carrier or an intended parent). 

The blog, called A Tale of Two Mothers - Journey through Canadian Surrogacy, is written from both the perspective of the gestational carrier, and the perspective of the intended mother.  It highlights some of the emotional ups and downs and concerns from both points of view.  This blog offers us a rare glimpse into these two women's thoughts, emotions, struggles and relationships. How privileged we are to be offered this insight! 

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I'm back!

11/26/2013

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Hello loyal readers,

You may have noticed it has been kind of quiet around here for the past number of months.  I was on parental leave and am just getting back into the swing of the "extras", including this blog.

The reason I was truly able to take parental leave was because my partner, Anatoly Dvorkin, stepped in and worked with my clients in my absence.  He did a fantastic job and discovered that he was both fascinated by the issues that develop in a fertility law practice and enjoyed the warm and personal relationships that develop in this area of law, too.  So, although I am back and handling the majority of the fertility law files myself, Anatoly is going to stay on too and be available to fertility clients looking to work with him, in addition to continuing with his commercial litigation, business formation and technology practice. We think it is a great opportunity as Anatoly brings a different perspective to the area. You can read about Anatoly on the Fertility Law Canada website, or check out more detailed information about this general practice on the D2Law website.  We look forward to helping you build families!

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In Honour of Pride Week - Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) and the LGBTQ community

6/29/2012

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For me, PRIDE is a time of hope and celebration, and I think it is apropos that we recognize just how far we have come as a society in helping all people who want children build their families in various ways, including through assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs).

I often mention that, in my opinion, the Assisted Human Reproduction Act starts out with a bang that is truly something to be proud of (unfortunately it  
fizzles out from there).  Specifically, the Act states that,

s. 2      The Parliament
of Canada recognizes and declares that…

 (e) persons who seek to undergo assisted
reproduction procedures must not be discriminated against, including on the basis of their sexual orientation or marital status.

While ARTs are often lauded for their success in helping people with infertility, they are  just as useful, necessary and laudable for members of the LGBT community who do
not suffer from infertility.  Gay men in particular benefit from accessible ARTs with an emphasis on the T for
technology; donor insemination has long been a self-help remedy, but there is no corresponding self-help remedy for gestational surrogacy.  
   
Although there is much to celebrate (and there
really is – so many beautiful families would not have been possible without ARTS), it’s imperative that we learn how to make section 2(e) of the AHRA more than just an ideal but a reality.  To that end, I want to share with you the hands-down best presentation regarding ARTs that I have been to all year, which hopefully will obain the funding to be presented repeatedly throughout Ontario:

Reframing Assisted Human Reproduction: 

A forum theatre workshop about LGBTQ people’s
experiences with AHR services


The workshop is based on interviews conducted with 66 LGBTQ people across Ontario who have used, considered using, and/or avoided using AHR to have genetically related children.  Some of the worst experiences of
the interviewees are portrayed for the audience (the performance is candid that it is reflective of the worst-case scenarios and doesn’t reflect any of the positive experiences of the LGBTQ community accessing ART services in
Ontario).  I have to admit, I had my doubts about a performanced based workshop, but it was incredibly effective.  As far as we have come with people of the LGBTQ community having access to ARTs, the experiences as performed in the workshop were shocking, eye-opening and traumatic.  From the things that we can easily remedy to be more sensitive, such as offering genderless bathrooms, to the way consent forms are drafted making
assumptions as to gender and sexuality, this presentation highlighted practical ways in which we can make ART services truly accessible to the LGBTQ community.  

For more information, please contact Lesley Tarasoff

 Phone:
416-535-8501 x 7386

Email:
Lesley_Tarasoff@camh.net 

or see http://www.lgbtqhealth.ca/

cof_theatre_brochure_-_service_providers.pdf
File Size: 1618 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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Quick update re importing eggs from an egg bank into Canada

6/28/2012

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A quick note about my earlier post regarding the legality of paying for imported banked frozen ova into Canada (read it here):
1. I'm proud to announce that a version of the post was published in the Huffington Post here, and
2. I heard through the grapevine that Health Canada confirmed that purchasing banked eggs and importing them into Canada is, in fact legal.  I am hoping to obain confirmation of that in writing shortly!

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The Absurdity of Criminalizing the Use of PGD for Sex Selection, and The Current Debate about Sex Selective Abortions

1/25/2012

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Last week, the issue of some Canadians aborting female fetuses as a means of sex selection and how to prevent this returned to the forefront of fertility law headlines.  Dr. Rajendra Kale, the then-interiim editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, reignited this hot topic by publishing his editorial entitled, "It's a girl!" - could be a death sentence.  In his opinion, gender based abortions are an evil propagated by some Asian communities, and is unacceptable in Canada.  His solution to stopping this practice is to deny all Canadian parents access to information about the gender of a fetus until about 30 weeks, at which time it is extremely difficult to get an abortion.
 
Dr. Kale's editorial set off a media storm about the practice of female feticide in Canada, and the merit of Dr. Kale's proposed solution.  See these related articles from the National Post, the Toronto Sun and The Globe and Mail and perhaps as interesting, see the readers' comments.  As would be expected, there were and continue to be many vocal opinions shared across Canada on this subject. 

Andre Picard responded to Dr. Kale's piece with an editorial of his own in his column in The Globe and Mail.  His editorial, Sex Selection is a Complex Issue with Many Nuances is bang on in that, with respect, Dr. Kale's proposed solution is overly simplistic and fails to address the root of the problem.  While it may seem that the issue of sex selective abortions is black and white, it is actually quite nuanced and brings up other important issues relating to multiculturalism, tolerance, reproductive freedoms and feminism that Dr. Kale's solution disregards.  Despite many readers comments to the contrary, just as being a pro-choice advocate is not equivalent to being a pro-abortion advocate, disagreeing with Dr. Kale's proposal does not make one pro-sex selective abortions. 

Now putting on my fertility lawyer hat, what I find truly absurd is that sex selective abortions are legal in Canada, but engaging in PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis) or embryo selection in order to implant embryos of a particular gender (except for the purpose of preventing, diagnosing or treating a sex-linked disease) is a criminal act carrying with it the penalty of up to ten years in jail and/or a $500,000 fine (see sections 5 and 60 of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act).  To my mind, if people are going to select the gender of their child, is it not ethically more acceptable that they do so at the embryonic stage, prior to the existence of a fetus, instead of aborting a fetus?

If we think like Dr. Kale, the simple solution, then, would be to criminalize sex-selective abortions in a similar manner as we criminalize engaging in procedures to determine the gender of an embryo.  But just like Dr. Kale's proposed solution was overly simplistic, so too is this solution.  We can only imagine the repercussions of criminalizing sex-selective abortion, and regardless, it would be all but impossible to develop a system to determine which abortions were only performed for the purpose of sex selection, and no other purpose that is legal (such as not wanting a baby at all).  Instead, to rid the law of this absurdity, we should allow the lesser evil (if it is an evil at all), which is selecting embryos of a certain gender to implant instead of forcing those who will engage in sex selection to abort fetuses.


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    Sara R. Cohen practices fertility law at Fertility Law Canada™ in Toronto, Canada with clients across the country and beyond.  She loves what she does, and it shows!

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