Fertility: 40 Years of Change
By Maureen McTeer
ISBN (print): 978-1-55221-637-8
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-55221-638-5
Publication date: May 2022
Page count: 276
In Fertility: 40 Years of Change, lawyer and author Maureen McTeer explores key medical, research, and legal developments in assisted human reproduction since the birth of the first IVF baby in 1978. With keen insight, she analyses how Canada has responded to the many legal and societal opportunities this foundational reproductive technology has created, such as new types of human relationships; the treatment of infertility; human embryo research; and the revolutionary possibilities for society raised by the combination of reproductive and genetic technologies, as we create, manipulate, and alter human life in the laboratory.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue | The Story Begins
Part One | IVF: The Beginning of a Modern Human Reproduction Revolution
Chapter 1 | In vitro Fertilization
Chapter 2 | Establishing Rules for IVF
Chapter 3 | The Federal Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies
Chapter 4 | The Federal Government’s Response
Chapter 5 | The Constitutional Division of Powers in Canada
Chapter 6 | The Court Challenges to the Act
Chapter 7 | The Law in Limbo
Part Two | Provincial Legislation: Assisted Human Reproduction and the Changing Definitions of Family
Chapter 8 | Provincial and Territorial Laws Respond
Chapter 9 | The Provinces and Territories Amend Their Family Laws
Chapter 10 | The Legal Status of a Child in Canada
Part Three | Research on Human Embryos
Chapter 12 | Research and the Human Embryo
Chapter 12 | Stem Cell Research
Chapter 13 | Legal Issues: Genetic Testing and Discrimination
Chapter 14 | Genome Editing — Research and Reproduction
Chapter 15 | The Birth of Children with an Altered Genome and the International Responses
Part Four | Looking to the Future
Chapter 16 | Public Policy and Legal Challenges Ahead
Chapter 17 | Conclusion
Appendix 1 | Provincial Fertility Coverage Regimes
Appendix 2 | The Status of the 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act Provisions
Appendix 3 | 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act Regulations —Coming into Force (CIF)
Appendix 4 | Judicial Decisions — Treatment of Human Embryos and Organs in Tax Cases
Appendix 5 | The Provincial Legislative Definitions of Tissue
Appendix 6 | Consent, Refusal, Embryo as Property
Notes
Glossary
Additional Sources
Index
For more than four decades, Maureen McTeer has been a leading advocate and role model for gender equality in Canada. She remains a strong advocate for greater public funding for all aspects of women’s health and care, and a staunch defender of women’s health and reproductive rights.
She is an expert on medical law and public policy, was an original member of the federal Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, and was a member of the Global Commission on Pollution, Health and Development.
Her interests and activism span a wide range of social, legal, and ethical issues, where science and society intersect. As a dedicated social activist, Ms. McTeer urges Canadians to participate actively in shaping policies and laws that affect them and others in their communities. Leading by example, she has served on many not-for-profit boards, including as co-chair of the National Experts Commission of the Canadian Nurses Association; as a founding member and chair of the Advisory Board of the Shirley E. Greenberg Women’s Health Centre in Ottawa; as a lay member of the National Council of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada and of the Accreditation Committee of Canadian Medical Schools; as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Heart Institute; as the Canadian representative of the international White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood; and as the national patron of the Canadian Osteoporosis Society.
