http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Couple+urged+surrogate+abort+fetus+defect/3
628756/story.html
 
Couple urged surrogate to abort fetus due to defectGetty Creative images
When a B.C. couple discovered that the fetus their surrogate mother was
carrying was likely to be born with Down syndrome, they wanted an abortion
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.Tom Blackwell, National Post · Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010
When a B.C. couple discovered that the fetus their surrogate mother was
carrying was likely to be born with Down syndrome, they wanted an abortion.
The surrogate, however, was determined to take the pregnancy to term,
sparking a disagreement that has raised thorny questions about the
increasingly common arrangements.
Under the agreement the trio signed, the surrogate’s choice would mean
absolving the couple of any responsibility for raising the child, the
treating doctor told a recent fertility-medicine conference. 
Dr. Ken Seethram, revealing the unusual situation for the first time, said
it raises questions about whether government oversight of contracts between
mothers and “commissioning” parents is needed.
A bioethicist who has studied the issue extensively argues that contract law
should not apply to the transaction, unless human life is to be treated like
widgets in a factory.
“Should the rules of commerce apply to the creation of children? No, because
children get hurt,” said Juliet Guichon of the University of Calgary. “It’s
kind of like stopping the production line: ‘Oh, oh, there’s a flaw.’ It
makes sense in a production scenario, but in reproduction it’s a lot more
problematic.”
Prof. Guichon speculated that courts likely would not honour a surrogacy
contract, drawing instead on family law that would require the biological
parents to support the child.
It appears no surrogacy contract has actually been contested in a Canadian
court, however, leaving the transactions in some legal limbo.
Dr. Seethram’s presentation to the Canadian Society of Fertility and
Andrology conference suggested the accord signed by the three in B.C. may
have undermined the surrogate’s right to make decisions in a “non-coercive”
environment.
The surrogate, a mother of two children of her own, eventually chose to have
the abortion, partly because of her own family obligations.
A former surrogate who helps parents and mothers make such arrangements said
the parties should agree on what they would do if defects are discovered
during pregnancy, ensuring they have the same views on abortion. If a
dispute still arises, however, parents ought to be protected, said Sally
Rhoads of SurrogacyInCanada.ca.
“The baby that’s being carried is their baby. It’s usually their genetic
offspring,” she said. “Why should the intended parents be forced to raise a
child they didn’t want? It’s not fair.”
In some U.S. jurisdictions, in fact, parents can even sue a surrogate to
recoup their payments if the woman insists on going ahead with a pregnancy
against their wishes, Ms. Rhoads said.
Disputes are rare here, but she said it is usually surrogates who end up
feeling most aggrieved. She recalled one case where the mother conceived
twins, the parents asked for a procedure to reduce the number of fetuses to
one, and the whole pregnancy was inadvertently lost. 
In three other Canadian cases, surrogates are now raising the babies after
the commissioning couples got divorced and backed out, Ms. Rhoads said.
The conference presentation disclosed no names or other personal details on
the B.C. case, but Dr. Seethram said it occurred within the past year.
The surrogate was implanted with an embryo created with the parents’ egg and
sperm. An ultrasound during the first trimester showed the fetus was likely
to have trisomy 21, the genetic abnormality that leads to Down syndrome. A
further test confirmed the diagnosis.
The couple and the surrogate always got along and their disagreement on what
to do never became acrimonious or tense, Dr. Seethram said. But the
physician with Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine said it appeared to
him that the three had never seriously considered such a scenario before the
pregnancy.
“They were certainly quite shocked,” he said. “Obviously, [the parents] had
come on a long journey before commissioning the surrogacy, [but] all they
were thinking about was success.”
It is an issue of growing importance. While there appear to be no national
statistics, experts in the field say that surrogacy arrangements are
becoming increasingly commonplace in Canada.
Larry Kahn, a Vancouver lawyer who specializes in assisted-reproduction and
adoption law, said he has arranged more than 35 surrogacy contracts in each
of the past three years, up from barely 15 a decade ago.
He said the surrogate is always represented by her own lawyer, but the
contracts usually absolve the parents of responsibility when a defect is
found and the surrogate refuses an abortion. He said he knows of no disputes
involving any of his clients, though he acknowledged that it is possible the
courts would not recognize the contract if a legal battle did ensue.
Dr. Seethram said he believes that the federal government will eventually
pass regulations to address the situation, but Mr. Kahn said he doubts
Ottawa will get involved.
Françoise Baylis, a Dalhousie University bioethicist, said the case
highlights how human life can become like a commodity in such transactions.
“The child is seen by the commissioning parents as a product, and in this
case a substandard product because of a genetic condition,” Prof. Baylis
said.
National Post
.

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