In Vitro Fertilization Tag

28 Nov 2017 ARPA’s new policy report on In Vitro Fertilization

ARPA Canada lawyer, John Sikkema ARPA is out with a new "Respectfully Submitted" Policy Report. This one deals with In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Lawyer John Sikkema says there's still considerable debate about the ethics of the practice itself, but the report doesn't address that issue. He says the report acknowledges the fact that there are ethical discussions underway about the very practice of IVF, but doesn’t address that issue directly. Rather, he says, it deals with policy issues that flow out of the fact that IVF is going on. “The ethical...

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22 Nov 2017 Improving Canadian laws to promote the equality of in vitro embryos

Reproductive medicine has changed drastically in the past decades with the development of technology that allows for in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF is the assisted fertilization of a human egg cell by a human sperm cell – thus creating a new human being – outside of the female body. Now more than ever there are more avenues to treat childlessness and to start a family. The medical assistance in the creation of human life involves serious questions of medical ethics, particularly in the way we treat life from its beginning....

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16 Sep 2016 Ontario Human Rights Tribunal rules in favour of Mt. Sinai

Refusing to perform a “fetal reduction procedure” (aborting one of two or more children in the womb) is not unlawful discrimination, according to an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision earlier this year. The Tribunal decision summarizes the facts as follows: In May 2015, the applicant was pregnant with twins following in vitro fertilization (IVF). The applicant decided that she did not want to have twins and wished to reduce the pregnancy to one fetus. Her obstetrical specialist advised her that this was a complex procedure that was not generally performed. On May 6, 2015, her treating specialist wrote to an obstetrician colleague at Mount Sinai Hospital to see if that hospital would be able to perform the procedure. The Mount Sinai physician advised that the respondent hospital would not be able to perform the procedure because the circumstances did not fit with the hospital’s policy regarding fetal reduction surgery. 1
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22 Dec 2010 Court rules parts of Reproduction Act unconstitutional

ARPA Note: The EFC intervened in this case. Read their concerns and suggestions for follow-up here. Brian Lilley, Toronto Sun Dec 22 2010 - OTTAWA: The Supreme Court has delivered a split advisory ruling in a case involving the regulation of in vitro fertilization, cloning and the creation of human-animal hybrids. While the ruling is technically only an advisory opinion, it has the effect of striking down several sections of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act. Read more...

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31 May 2010 Study Finds Adults Conceived Through Sperm Donation Suffer Substantial Harm

The Commission on Parenthood’s Future today released internationally the groundbreaking report My Daddy’s Name is Donor: A New Study of Young Adults Conceived Through Sperm Donation, co-investigated by Elizabeth Marquardt, Norval D. Glenn, and Karen Clark. The report reveals stunning findings about the lives of adult offspring of sperm donation, one of the most common reproductive technologies and one that has been practiced widely in the U.S. and around the world for decades. [Read more here.]...

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06 Apr 2010 First Open Embryo Donation Program to Launch in Canada

HAMILTON, ON, April 5 /CNW/ - Canada's first open embryo donation program is being launched today by Beginnings Family Services, a not-for-profit registered charity providing compassionate pregnancy support services, infertility counseling, and adoption services to clients since 1985. "Embryo donation addresses a major dilemma for many Canadians who have completed in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments," says Beginnings Executive Director, Kerry Vandergrift. IVF has resulted in thousands of unused frozen embryos remaining stored in fertility clinics across Canada. Couples completing IVF treatment are faced with a dilemma - what to do with their remaining embryos. Until now, options were limited to having their embryos destroyed, leaving the embryos stored indefinitely, or donating their embryos for medical research.
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05 May 2009 One Day in Court: the Importance of Being There

The day was a reminder that the role of the Christian faith perspective remains important in Canadian life, law and society. by Don Hutchinson -  (www.christianity.ca) Friday, April 24 was an interesting day. Not that other days are less than interesting, but the opportunity to be engaged with the Supreme Court of Canada on what is literally a matter of life doesn’t present itself too frequently. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) jointly...

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16 Mar 2009 Quebec judge denies adoption in surrogacy case

Graeme Hamilton, National Post  Published: Thursday, March 12, 2009MONTREAL • The Quebec couple had tried everything to conceive a baby since marrying in 2002 - surgery, artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization. When their attempts failed, they turned to the Internet and found a woman willing to serve as a surrogate mother in exchange for $20,000. The surrogate was artificially inseminated with...

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