Nobody's Child, Everybody's Children:

Nobody’s Child, Everybody’s Law or Not?

Maureen McTeer
LL.M. (Health), Faculty of Common Law
University of Ottawa

Michelle Valberg, PhotographerCanada comes late to the federal regulation of reproductive technologies (NRTs) and genetic research on IVF embryos. This keynote address will provide an historical overview of the public and parliamentary processes that preceded the passage of current law governing clinics offering IVF and related technologies, and research on human embryos. It will analyse the law's impact on access to NRTs by couples and single women, and the status of contested scientific investigations, including embryonic stem cell research.

Maureen McTeer is a lawyer specializing in law, science, and public policy. Author of “Tough Choices: Living & Dying in the 21st Century,” Ms McTeer was a Member of Canada's Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies from 1989-1991.