Surrogacy motherhood in Canada
It is a beautiful utopia. There is a law allowing surrogacy in Canada for foreigners.
But in CANADA, the surrogacy law is altruistic and puts a limit on the amount that the surrogate can receive as compensation, which is practically limited to include her medical expenses. A surrogate in the USA receives between 55,000 and 65,000 US dollars, and Canadian surrogates are aware of this and demand similar sums.
Paying the excess is a criminal offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 Canadian dollars. As a law firm we cannot recommend that you enter into such dangerous territory.
Intermediation or advertising for the services of a surrogate mother is also prohibited (section 6 assisted human reproduction act 2004)".
It is forbidden intermediation for agencies, lawyers or doctors to recruit surrogate mothers.
There is no social security, therefore, all medical expenses that may be incurred for surrogacy are at your own expense.
There is no fixed price for surrogacy in Canada. If there are any extra costs, such as incubator etc.... You will have to pay for them and the price of surrogacy can skyrocket.
There is a shortage of surrogates, so it can take anywhere from 24 months to 48 months at best to find a surrogate.
When you get a surrogate, she/he must accept you as a surrogate parent(s) in a surrogacy in Canada.
Penalties for non-compliance with the law are not minor
Sec. 60 A person who contravenes any of sections 5 to 7 and 9 is guilty of an offence and:
(a) is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or to both; or
b. is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $250,000 or to imprisonment for a term of up to four years, or to both.
A person who contravenes any provision of this Act - except any of sections 5 to 7 and 9 - or of the regulations or an order made under subsection 44 (1) is guilty of an offence and is
a. is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding $250,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both; or
b. is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term of up to two years, or to both.
Therefore, if any company offers you to mediate a process in CANADA, you should know that it is committing an illegal act, and more seriously, it implicates you in the same offence.
We do not understand why they offer this destination, when there are others. The law in Canada was made for Canadians, who have a sister, a sister-in-law, a cousin or a friend who, free of charge, wants to gestate a baby for the commissioning parents, can do so with legal guarantees for all parties. The law was not made so that foreigners, en masse, would flock to that country to achieve our goal of becoming parents.
It is also curious that on their websites (in a not very visible area), the agencies themselves warn the following:
- Restrictive legislation (no economic negotiation with the surrogate is allow).
- Very small companies, with limited response times and communication channels.
- Ambiguous attitude of the consular authorities.
- Ambiguity in health coverage for surrogacy babies. Some hospitals have issued invoices to parents for this concept.
Every month we receive calls from parents who have started more than a year ago, a surrogacy process in CANADA, either directly or through an agency. After more than a year without finding a surrogate, they give up.
Therefore, as a law firm, we should not recommend CANADA as a destination for our surrogacy process.
Advantages and Disadvantages of surrogacy in Canada
Advantages
In the surrogacy process in Canada, a court judgement is obtain in the name of the commissioning parents. However, it is not recognized by the government for automatic registration.
Surrogacy in Canada is available to all types of families, regardless of their marital or sexual status (married, cohabiting, single, unmarried, same sex couples).
Remarks
Surrogacy in Canada is altruistic, i.e. the surrogate mother cannot be compensated for carrying the child. This makes it very difficult to find surrogates.
Commercial surrogacy is prohibited, with penalties of imprisonment, intermediation, and advertising of any kind, even between private individuals for surrogacy.
There is no social security, so all medical expenses that may be incur for surrogacy are at your own expense.
There is no fixed price for surrogacy in Canada. If there are any extra costs, such as incubator etc.... You will have to pay for them and the price of the surrogacy can skyrocket.
There is a shortage of surrogates, so it can take anywhere from 12 months to a year and a half to find a surrogate.
When you find a surrogate mother, she must accept you as the commissioning parents for a surrogacy in Canada.
The cost of surrogacy in Canada is very similar to the cost of surrogacy in the United States. A surrogacy procedure costs between 120.000€ and 150.000€, if there are no surprises.