Regulating AHR

On March 31, 2013 Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC) closed its doors for good. With the demise of AHRC, responsibility for administering and enforcing the Assisted Human Reproduction Actand its regulations now falls to Health Canada.

How will Health Canada manage this obligation, given its longstanding failure to develop the regulations that AHRC was to have administered and enforced? Since 2004, Health Canada has only issued one set of regulations – the Consent to Use regulations. Long awaited are the regulations governing the reimbursement of expenditures (AHRA Section 12). Without these regulations there is no way to legally reimburse expenses incurred in the course of donating sperm, ova, embryos, or surrogacy services.

The Demise of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada [PDF - 181 KB]
Françoise Baylis, Journal of Obestetrics and Gynaecology Canada, (2012) 34(6): 511-513.

Enforcing the Assisted Human Reproduction Act [PDF - 104 KB]
Françoise Baylis, Journal of Obestetrics and Gynaecology Canada, (2012) 34(5): 415.

Assisted Human Reproduction Canada: The Budget Cut Everyone Missed
Anne Kingston, Macleans, April 2, 2012

Government Shutters Agency that Oversees Canada's Fertility and Assisted Reproduction Industry
Tom Blackwell, National Post, March 30, 2012

Supreme Court of Canada Decision on the Assisted Human Reproduction Act Creates Urgent Need for Action [PDF - 254 KB]
Françoise Baylis, Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada, (2011) 33(4):317-319.