(Quebec) Women wishing to become a surrogate mother should fulfill an essential condition to qualify: having already borne a child, according to the Council on the Status of Women (CSF).
The government advisory body on the status of women was one of the first responders invited to speak out on Tuesday as part of the consultation on Bill 2, sponsored by the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette.
The bill, which casts a very wide net with its some 360 articles, proposes an ambitious reform of family law, including the supervision of procreation for others.
In its brief presented by its president Louise Cordeau, the CSF considers that the guidelines for this practice included in Bill 2 are “insufficient”, with a view to protecting the integrity of women.
According to him, the fact for a woman to have had a pregnancy experience, to have already given birth to a child, seems an “unavoidable” condition for considering getting involved in a procreation project for others.
In order not to instrumentalize the body of women, this criterion should, according to the CSF, be part of the legislative guidelines intended to ensure the informed consent of women at all stages of the process.
The council therefore recommends to the minister to modify article 96 of the legislative text so that it now stipulates that “the woman who agrees to bear a child with a view to handing it over to a third person has previous experience of childbirth. “.
Bill 2 aims in particular to regulate notarial contracts concluded between intending parents and a woman who will agree to bear their child.
A sexist bill?
The women’s rights organization is also offended by the vocabulary used by the minister in his bill. He deplores the use of the word “gestation”, more associated with animals than humans.
He recalls that according to the Office de la langue française (OQLF) gestation refers to “a viviparous female, who carries her young in her uterus”.
“The vocabulary is heavy with meaning”, recalled Mr.me Cordeau, in his remarks, presented by videoconference, saying he prefers the expression “motherhood for others”.
The word gestation, “it sounds a bit animal,” acknowledged the minister.
The CSF also deplores the fact that the bill favors the use of the masculine, by using the terms “the doctor”, “the professional”, “the notary”, instead of using epicene terms and neutral expressions.
The current reform of family law is the first major reform in this area since 1980. It is centered on the rights of the child, including the right to know their origins, to “appropriate their identity, their history”, regardless of how it was designed, the minister said in his opening remarks. It will have the effect of reviewing the rules of filiation and amending the Civil Code.
The bill also focuses on reviewing gender identity. The minister initially planned to require surgery to authorize a change in the sex designation on the birth certificate. But in the face of the outcry, he backed down and should soon table amendments on this subject.
The consultation on Bill 2 will be dispatched in four days.