From the Globe And Mail:
A long-awaited Supreme Court ruling that takes the business of regulating the clinical world of baby-making out of Ottawa’s hands has raised questions about the future of fertility treatments in Canada, and fears that the black market for human eggs and sperm will continue to thrive.
Judges found the power to regulate and license doctors and clinics offering fertility treatments belongs to the provinces, as an area involving the practice of medicine. But the ruling, released Wednesday, upholds other elements of the federal Assisted Human Reproduction Act, including those governing the use of human embryos in stem cell research. . . .
It was Quebec, later joined by New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta, that challenged the federal assisted human reproduction law shortly after it was passed in 2004. Quebec had argued that regulatory control over reproductive technologies is a provincial matter.
According to the report, the 163-page opinion continues to allow the federal government to prohibit payment to surrogates and limit payments to egg and sperm donors.
And from the Toronto Star:
In a landmark advisory opinion, a deeply divided Supreme Court of Canada ruled major sections of the federal law on assisted human reproduction fall outside Ottawa’s power to regulate under criminal law.
The court said it is up to provinces to control the licensing of doctors and clinics and to regulate how they deal with donors and would-be parents, or with eggs, sperms or embryos for research purposes, including developing new genetic therapies for disease. . . .
Certain federal criminal bans still stand. It is still illegal to pay for surrogacy, and the federal government may limit reimbursements to donors and surrogates for expenses only, although the federal government has never defined an allowable expense.
Ottawa may still legislate mandatory written consent of donors; a ban on extracting eggs or sperm from persons under 18 except to preserve their fertility; and a prohibition on “chimera” or human-animal hybrids.
Those practices, a majority of judges agreed, are rightly up to the federal government to control with criminal laws, under its power to protect morality, public health and security in Canada.
Much more news coverage over at How Appealing
HT: Larry Helfer
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