RECONCEIVING QUEBEC’S LAWS ON SURROGATE MOTHERHOOD
Abstract
In September 2016, the Quebec government announced its intention to reform the Civil Code of Québec to recognize and further regulate surrogate motherhood. Quebec’s Minister of Justice indicated that in bringing forward these changes, the government will consider recommendations provided in a 2015 report by the Comité consultatif sur le droit de la famille (the Comité). This article explores the history, objectives, and effects of Quebec’s current legal responses to surrogacy and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the Comité’s proposed reforms. It argues that while the report’s proposals would better support and protect surrogate mothers and children born through surrogacy than Quebec’s current regime, the Comité’s recommendations do not adequately account for intended parents’ interests or recognize diverse family forms. It recommends that the Quebec government look to British Columbia’s Family Law Act and Ontario’s Children’s Law Reform Act for further inspiration for how to re-imagine Quebec’s surrogacy laws.