Surrogacy Laws in Canada: Exploring Intended Parents’ Experiences and Perspectives
Surrogacy Laws in Canada: Exploring Intended Parents’ Experiences and Perspectives
Surrogacy Laws in Canada: Exploring Intended Parents’ Experiences and Perspectives
Surrogacy Laws in Canada: Exploring Intended Parents’ Experiences and Perspectives
Surrogacy Laws in Canada: Exploring Intended Parents’ Experiences and Perspectives
Surrogacy Laws in Canada: Exploring Intended Parents’ Experiences and Perspectives
This project will explore how Canadian surrogacy laws are affecting the decisions, behaviour, and experiences of intended parents. Dr. Stefanie Carsley will conduct qualitative interviews with intended parents to better understand their experiences building their families with the help of a surrogate in Canada and their perspectives on Canadian surrogacy laws.
My name is Stefanie Carsley and I am a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. I research and write on Canadian surrogacy laws, and I am currently interviewing intended parents about their experiences building their families through surrogacy.
If you are an intended parent who is currently working with a surrogate in Canada, or who has previously worked with a surrogate in Canada (since January 2016), I would be extremely grateful if you would consider participating in this study.
The data from these interviews will be used to provide recommendations for how Canadian law can better support family-building through surrogacy. Lawmakers are considering reforming federal and provincial laws, and it is crucial that they hear from intended parents with first-hand knowledge and experience of the surrogacy process. Your participation would be invaluable to this research and vital to the success of this project.
Interviews will take place by phone or Zoom at a time that is convenient for you and will last between 60 and 90 minutes. Your name and any identifying information will not be used at any stage of the research.
If you are willing to participate in this study, or have any questions about this project, you can reach me at stefanie.carsley@uottawa.ca.
This project has been approved by the University of Ottawa’s Research Ethics Board and is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Thank you very much for your time and support for this important research. I look forward to hearing from you.
Recent Publications
Stefanie Carsley, “Surrogacy in Canada: Lawyers’ Experiences and Practices” 34:1 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law [Forthcoming in 2022].
Stefanie Carsley, “Regulating Reimbursements for Surrogate Mothers” (2021) 58:4 Alberta Law Review 811.
Stefanie Carsley, “Reconceiving Quebec’s Laws on Surrogate Motherhood” (2018) 96:1 Canadian Bar Review 121.
Stefanie Carsley, “DNA, Donor Offspring and Derivative Citizenship: Redefining Parentage under the Citizenship Act” (2016) 39:2 Dalhousie Law Journal 525.
Stefanie Carsley, “Rethinking Canadian Legal Responses to Frozen Embryo Disputes” (2014) 29:1 Canadian Journal of Family Law 55.
Stefanie Carsley, “Tort’s Response to Surrogate Motherhood: Providing Surrogates with a Remedy for Breached Agreements” (2013) 46:1 University of British Columbia Law Review 1.
Stefanie Carsley, “Funding In Vitro Fertilization: Exploring the Health and Justice Implications of Quebec’s Policy” (2012) 20:3 Health Law Review 15 (peer-reviewed on request).
Recent Media
Alana Cattapan, Vanessa Gruben, Stefanie Carsley, Angela Cameron, “Opinion: Rushing Quebec’s Bill 2 Risks Leaving Many Voices Unheard” CTV News (14 December 2021).
Stefanie Carsley, “Who has control over frozen embryos after divorce?” The Globe and Mail (13 August 2018).
Stefanie Carsley, “What problem is Quebec’s IVF bill trying to solve?” The Globe and Mail (9 December 2014).
Event Videos
Resources
Team Leads
Team
Stefanie Carsley
Stefanie Carsley
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Law
University of Ottawa
Dr. Stefanie Carsley is a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, and a member of uOttawa’s Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics. Her research focuses on Canadian law and policy responses to assisted reproduction and surrogacy and she is currently the principal investigator for a SSHRC-funded qualitative study entitled “Surrogacy Laws in Canada: Exploring Intended Parents’ Experiences and Perspectives” (2021-2023).
Dr. Carsley earned her Bachelor of Arts (BA, 2007) and Bachelor of Civil Law/Bachelor of Laws (BCL/LLB, 2011) degrees at McGill University and her Master of Laws (LLM, 2013) degree at the University of Toronto. Prior to returning to McGill to complete her doctorate (DCL, 2020), she clerked for the Honourable Madam Justice Johanne Trudel at the Federal Court of Appeal.
Dr. Carsley’s doctoral dissertation draws on qualitative interviews with Canadian fertility lawyers to assess the strengths and shortcomings of Canadian surrogacy laws. Her doctoral research was supported by the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship and the Queen’s Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and her dissertation was nominated for the CAGS/Proquest UMI Distinguished Dissertation Award.
She has published articles on surrogacy and assisted reproduction in the Canadian Journal of Family Law, the University of British Columbia Law Review, the Health Law Review, the Dalhousie Law Journal, the Canadian Bar Review, the Alberta Law Review and the Globe and Mail and has an article forthcoming in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law.
