Regulating the Queer Family: The Assisted Human Reproduction Act
Angela Cameron, "Regulating the Queer Family: The Assisted Human Reproduction Act" (2008), 24 Canadian Journal of Family Law 101.
15 Pages Posted: 15 May 2013
Date Written: 2008
Abstract
The recent Alberta Court of Appeal Case in D.W.H v D.J.R. ("D.W.H") marks the latest in a series of Canadian judicial decisions regulating the legal definition of family, and the rights of queer parents and sperm donors. While recent provincial jurisprudence and legislation for the most part expands the legal recognition of queer families, the ability to form some of the most prevalent forms of queer families is now restricted by new federal legislation governing reproductive technologies, the Assisted Human Reproduction Act ("Act"). Queer families use reproductive technologies extensively, and the parents discussed in D.W.H., would now encounter serious difficulties under the Act in legally conceiving the child who is the subject of this case. While courts across the country deliberate over who exactly is a parent, with what rights, and in what context, the queer family forms they are scrutinizing are arguably being regulated out of existence.
In this case comment I will first discuss D.W.H in relation to recent legislative and jurisprudential trends in Canadian family law. I then go on to discuss the larger legislative context in which this case law is being developed: in particular, the ways that queer family forms may be impacted by the Act.
Keywords: D.W.H v D.J.R, family, legal definition of family, rights of queer parents, rights of sperm donors, governing reproductive technologies, Assisted Human Reproduction Act, parent, rights, Canadian family law
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