On February 23, the CAQ government tabled Bill 12 (PL12) governing pregnancy for others (GPA), aimed at protecting the interests of children and surrogate mothers. Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette recalls that “children are the most precious thing we have” and that “it is their interest that must take precedence and guide all our decisions”.
Does this bill achieve these goals? Is it built on real social acceptance, knowledge of this practice or is it based on myths? Let’s look at a few.
Myth notoh 1 : Surrogacy is family or friendly mutual aid
Surrogacy is perceived as a gesture of solidarity from a woman towards an infertile sister or friend.
Although Minister Jolin-Barrette uses several examples of family mutual aid in parliamentary committee to justify relaxation of the law, the fact remains that in the majority of cases (78%, according to an Ontario sample), the parties do business with intermediary agencies to establish commercial contracts that will be executed by fertility clinics and egg banks. The parties also sometimes use lawyers, lending institutions and insurance companies. All these players constitute an industry whose objective is to generate profits which will reach 27 billion dollars worldwide in 2025.1. The workings of this industry are based on the altruism of women.
Myth notoh 2 : Supervision of surrogacy is guided by the fundamental interest of the child
Objectively, any separation from its biological mother creates harm to the newborn. This early separation is also prohibited for domestic farm animals.2. How could it be in the best interests of a human baby?
“Access to knowledge of one’s origins is a fundamental and intrinsic need for children,” said Minister Jolin-Barrette. Surrogacy is often preferred to adoption in order to establish a genetic link between the adult and the child.
If we recognize the importance of this link for the adult, how can we justify depriving the child of it by failing to prohibit the use of anonymous gametes?
The minister rightly closed the door on multiple parenthood, relying on the fact that no study shows that this configuration is favorable to the interests of the child. What about the fact that the PL12 allows single people to form a single-parent family by surrogacy whose vulnerability is nevertheless recognized?
Myth notoh 3 : Surrogacy is a solution to infertility
In vitro fertilization (IVF), a medical technique involving many more medical risks than a spontaneous pregnancy3, aims to alleviate infertility. Intended parents wishing to select the child’s genetic background from a catalog4 often impose this intervention on the surrogate mother, who is already fertile and who does not need it to become pregnant.
Requests from men, often fertile, who are alone or in a relationship with another man, constitute 40% of surrogacy. “Infertility” is extrapolated to their situation by introducing the neologism “social infertility”.
To overcome this “social infertility”, surrogacy by IVF leads to unnecessary risks that can lead to infertility for surrogate mothers, even though the diversity of family models (co-parenting or adoption) is already recognized by Quebec law.
Myth notoh 4 : In Canada, surrogate mothers are not paid
GPAs are not always without compensation, contrary to the provisions of Canadian law5. Me Kirouac, before the Commission des institutions in December 2021, testifies to having noted several ex post payments of $35,000 for a GPA and $10,000 for an oocyte6.
The payments encourage candidates to become surrogate mothers, in constant shortage in Canada. Surrogate mothers in Quebec mentioned economic motivations, including funding a return to school or collecting benefits from the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan to stay home with their children7.
Despite the local framework, the law of the market will encourage Quebecers to solicit women from poor countries like Ukraine or Mexico to become surrogate mothers out of economic precariousness. The local offer will remain either insufficient, too expensive or considered to cause too much delay.
Myth notoh 5 : These changes do not affect the entire population
Bill 12 opens up a new legal possibility for Quebec society allowing the disposal of certain children: those who are the subject of a contract before their conception. However, this collective consequence is rarely addressed and affects the entire population. It is presented as a donation – supposedly more ethical than a “sale”. “Any attempt to donate a particular human being, in this case a child, assumes that any human being can be disposed of, since the principle of equality applies to all8 “.
PL12 is a break that fundamentally calls into question the legal, anthropological and social status of motherhood, raising serious ethical concerns.
There would still be time for the legislator to hear the groups which express them.
2. Regulation respecting the safety and well-being of cats and dogs, Quebec (c. P -42, r. 10.1) article 42. A breeder cannot wean the puppies before the age of 8 weeks.
3. “Perinatal outcomes after natural conception versus in vitro fertilization (IVF) in gestational surrogates: a model to evaluate IVF treatment versus maternal effects”, Woo and Al, 2017
4. These catalogs make it possible to choose providers of genetic material based on characteristics such as ethnicity, eye color, height, etc. In addition, this ensures that the surrogate mother is not genetically linked to the child she is carrying.
7. “Procreative mediation and assisted maternity. Towards a relational and pragmatic approach to surrogacy and egg donation in Canada”, K. Lavoie, February 2019, Université de Montréal, p. 157-158
8. “Belly for hire. A feminist critique of surrogacy”, p. 14, Stoicea-Deram and Devillers, 2022, The breakaway
* Co-signatories: Ghislaine Gendron, co-coordinator for Quebec of the WDI (Women’s Declaration International) and co-author of the book Bellies for rent, a feminist critique of surrogacy (L’échappée editions, 2022); Lise Boivin, feminist