Lesser known facts about surrogacy in Canada

Given that Canadian law vehemently forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation or marital status, it is one of the few countries that recognizes gay people or people who are not married as parents.

 After a parentage decision has been made and the intended parents are listed as the child's parents on the birth certificate, the child can only apply for a passport. Until then, intended parents cannot remove a surrogate-born child from its country of birth.

 The majority of Canadian provinces have quick procedures in place to fulfill these demands and any child born via surrogacy in Canada is also automatically a citizen, which is a benefit that many would-be parents find appealing.

Understanding the regulations related to surrogacy in Canada

While Canadian law is quite conservative when it comes to the use and manipulation of gametes and embryos, those seeking less cumbersome or more radical interventions can simply ask the prospective surrogate mother to cross the U.S.-Canada border, where IVF would be carried out after, for example, sex selection or pre-implantation genetic testing in a more technologically advanced American state.

In addition, Canada provides distinct financial and medical benefits to prospective surrogate parents. In Canada, surrogate mothers and the children they give birth to are entitled to the best possible prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care, which is fully covered by the government. No province has laws that mandate or make it easier for international intended parents to cover pregnancy-related or delivery-related expenses.

So, technically, anyone can pursue surrogacy in the country and even if you are pursuing surrogacy for gay couples in Canada, you can do so without any hassle.

Benefits for the surrogate mother in Canada

The majority of working Canadian women who become pregnant has the right to receive a portion of the income they lost while on maternity leave through the national employment insurance system. Some employers also supplement these benefits, which lowers the amount of lost wages that intended parents might have to pay a surrogate mother.

The Canadian dollar is undervalued in relation to the American dollar, which lowers the surrogacy cost in Canada, including the reimbursable expenses for the surrogate mother and the intended parents' postpartum living expenses.

Surrogacy in Canada vs Surrogacy in USA

Across the nation, there are well-established networks of information and support for surrogate mothers, clinics, agencies, and attorneys. These networks not only make it easier for prospective parents to get involved, but they also make sure those intended parents and surrogates are well-matched and informed.

Though Canadian law forbids paying surrogate mothers for their services, the number of Canadian women willing to serve as charitable surrogates falls far short of the demand both domestically and abroad. The situation is worse in case of surrogacy for gay couple in Canada.

Making payments to the surrogate mother in Canada

Participants in Canadian surrogacy have been reluctant to discuss surrogacy cost in Canada in an open forum. However, some researchers think that these payments are being made to offshore accounts by non-Canadian intended parents, encouraging Canadian women to act as surrogates for non-Canadian intended parents.

Moreover, extraterritorial acts are exempt from Canadian criminal law, so it is possible to argue that no Canadian laws have been broken as long as the payments are made outside of Canada. Besides, in order to facilitate the issuance of passports to children born abroad to surrogate mothers for intended Canadian parents, the Canadian government has long had policies in place. This is true despite the fact that almost all of these offshore agreements involve a payment for surrogacy services and would be illegal if they had been made in Canada.

 More than 50 studies that have been published show that intended parents are generally happy with surrogacy in Canada. However, more can be done to guarantee the protection of surrogate mothers, such as stricter regulations and reporting requirements on the use of reproductive technologies like multiple implants and a requirement that surrogate mothers obtain independent medical and legal counsel.

Research is lacking, particularly in the Canadian context, on topics like whether or not surrogate mothers desire to maintain relationships with the children they give birth to and whether such contact is beneficial to the future child.