THE Quebec provincial government is now paying for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments for women providing gestational services to homosexual men. Surrogacy is not legally recognized in Quebec but it still takes place and a radio host has claimed that it’s “discriminatory” for the government not to pay for treatments for surrogate mothers acting in concert with homosexual men. He was apparently the first to win subsidies for a surrogate, who is expecting twins. The Quebec government now spends $67 million annually on IVF treatments. Taxpayers will be directly subsidizing the commercial market in children for homosexuals.

Regarding the growing fertility industry in this country, the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network writes of the consequences for children and women drawn into contractual arrangements:

In surrogacy, the rights of the child are almost never considered. Transferring the duties of parenthood from the birthing mother to a contracting couple denies the child any claim to its “gestational carrier” and to its biological parents if the egg and/or sperm is/are not that of the contracting parents. In addition, the child has no right to information about any siblings he or she may have in the latter instance.

Surrogacy is another form of the commodification of women’s bodies. Surrogate services are advertised, surrogates are recruited, and operating agencies make large profits. The commercialism of surrogacy raises fears of a black market and baby selling, of breeding farms, turning impoverished women into baby producers and the possibility of selective breeding at a price. Surrogacy degrades a pregnancy to a service and a baby to a product.

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