Legislation on Assisted Human Reproduction

In May, Bill C-56 (Legislation on Assisted Human Reproduction) was introduced into the House of Commons. This Bill deals with such issues as cloning, payment to surrogate mothers, the creation of human/animal hybrids, et cetera, and would make many such practices illegal. However, the legislation would allow for experimentation on human embryos younger than 14 days for the purpose of extracting their stem cells. In response, LifeCanada issued this press release:

Introduction of Legislation on Assisted Human Reproduction Including the creation of a Regulatory Agency.

"W e beg to differ with Minister McLellan's statement that 'this proposed Act clarifies what we, as a society, find acceptable,'" states Jakki Jeffs, spokesperson for LifeCanada, the national, educational, pro-life co-ordinating organization.

Millions of individuals across this country do not find it acceptable to destroy vulnerable human lives through embryonic stem cell research, particularly since an ethical and successful alternative already exists in adult stem cell research. Nor do they believe that parents should have the authority to give consent for their embryonic children to be used for research or scheduled for destruction.

"This legislation leaves too many questions unanswered, and the general public is once again not being given all the facts," says Jeffs. "Why is it acceptable for researchers to maintain human embryos outside the womb as long as they destroy it when it is fourteen days old? Why is surrogate motherhood moral if women do not get paid? And just who will sit on this proposed Assisted Human Reproduction Agency?"

It is sad that this government is only prepared to be "in line with measures taken in other major industrialized countries" and not prepared to take leadership by protecting its most vulnerable citizenry - the embryonic Canadians created by artificial reproduction.

Jeffs added, "one can only hope that in the public debate that follows, we will witness the evolution of an informed citizenry and informed public representatives, and witness the emergence of a country that will be strong enough to be a world leader and not one that is content to only follow the lead of others!"

Jakki Jeffs is Executive Director of Alliance for Life Ontario and spokesperson for LifeCanada.