Continuing Legal Education announced this up coming course for lawyers:

The desire to have a child and a family is one of the things that defines most of us as humans. The physical inability to have a child can be devastating. Unfortunately, statistics show that 1 in 6 heterosexual couples are infertile. In addition, there are those who cannot conceive a child due to their sexual orientation or because they do not have a partner.

Fortunately, modern technologies have allowed us to achieve human conception and birth in ways that were previously unthinkable. Through the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) including third party reproduction (gamete donation, embryo donation and surrogacy), people who otherwise were unable to do so are now building their families. However, the use of ARTs is fraught with ethical and legal considerations.

Fertility Law deals with these considerations. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the work fertility lawyers do in helping their clients navigate the legalities of gamete donation, embryo donation and surrogacy. We will cover issues of compliance with the federal Assisted Human Reproduction Act and pitfalls around drafting and negotiating egg donor, sperm donor, embryo donor and surrogacy agreements. Further, we will provide a snapshot of how legal parentage of children born through ARTs is established in each province and territory.

Fertility law is on the cutting edge of the intersection between health law, family law, technology and ethics. It is a dynamic, fascinating and developing area of the law.