The Basics
Do you know… How many legal parents you can have? Who is on the birth certificate if a donor or gestational carrier is used? Fertility Law BC has answers.
Proud moms
"We will both be on our child’s birth certificate because donors are not ‘parents’ in BC. We are so relieved!"
Doting dads
"For a long time, we couldn’t conceive how we would have children. Then we found a surrogate…"
Going solo
"In BC, I’m fully recognized as my child’s legal parent, and my donor’s decision to be a donor not a dad will be respected."
Our path to parenthood
"I thought infertility meant we couldn’t have a baby. But then we learned about egg and embryo donation…"
British Columbia is one of the most progressive jurisdictions in the world if you want to create a family using assisted reproduction.
Maybe you are in a heterosexual couple and have fertility issues. Maybe you are a same sex family wanting to conceive a child with the help of donated eggs or sperm. Maybe you want to have a child on your own. Maybe you are in a couple and one of you or both of you are transgender, and you want a baby. Maybe there are going to be more than two parents in your family.
In B.C., the most important underlying legal principle for parentage in assisted reproduction is the intention of the person or people who intend to be the parents of the child to be born. That intention is more important than a genetic connection. That intention is more important than whether the baby is carried by one of the people who will raise the child, or carried by a surrogate mother who gives birth to, but is not a parent of, the child.
Sometimes people can conceive a child at home, with donated sperm. Sometimes the services of a fertility clinic are required to implant donated eggs, or fertilize an embryo and implant the embryo.
Whatever route you choose, it is important – and sometimes legally required – to have a written agreement among the people who will be part of the conception and carriage of the child.
This website gives you an introduction to fertility law in B.C., and to the lawyers who can help you.
