Canada’s Murky Legal World of Surrogate-Consultants and Human-Egg Buyers

Struggling to make ends meet as a university English major, Elizabeth could not help but notice the online classified ad, offering healthy young women the potential to earn $5,000.

She jumped at the opportunity, even after discovering the work involved donating eggs for use in fertility treatment. The 22-year-old was told the money was to reimburse her for expenses and lost time at work or school, as stipulated by criminal law that bans paying egg or sperm donors commercial fees.

As it turns out, Elizabeth said she had no expenses to speak of and took off no time from school, yet the money came like clockwork — the first $1,000 after she underwent various tests, the last $4,000 when the eggs were “retrieved.”

“I was a broke student and the $5,000 price tag was very desirable,” said the Vancouver Island resident, who asked that her last name be withheld. “[But] I felt like one part on the production line to eventually create this child, which this family is paying thousands of dollars to essentially produce by artificial means.”

The ad...