NEWSLETTER OF THE CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION, B.C. BRANCH
JUNE, 1989 VOLUME1 NUMBERS
B.C. Branch Annual Meeting
tible to exploitative, irresponsible practices", the committee said in its report. The committee said it is opposed not just to the "commercialization of surrogacy" by agents and other third parties, but also between the parties themselves.
Janice Dillon, Chainnan, special task force on reproductive technology, reporting to the annual meeting.
HIGHLIGHTS BRANCH ANNUAL MEETING BRANCH ELECTIONS LEGAL AID FUNDING LEGISLATIVE UPDATE SECTIONTALK
The report of the special task force committee on reproductive technology highlighted the annual meeting of the B.C. Branch held in Vancouver June 23rd. The committee, chaired by Janice Dillon, a Vancouver lawyer and assistant clinical professor on the faculty of medicine at UBC, called for a prohibition on the payment of money or other considerations to the birth mother or third parties in surrogacy arrangements. The committee said in its 40page report that it considered the option of banning surrogacy agreements altogether, a solution proposed by the Quebec Bar Association. "One problem is that such a ban is unlikely to be practically enforceable and may prevent or drive underground those arrangements which do not violate established principle, rendering them even more suscep-
"While the removal of financial incentives may reduce the number of women willing to consider these arrangements, this is in keeping with the committee's desire not to encourage surrogacy but to facilitate it in rare circumstances when the birth mother chooses to honour the agreement in a situation that gives every possible protection to herself." The committee said the birth mother should have the same amount of time- at least 10 days -as in an ordinary adoption to consider whether to give up custody and should have the right to change her mind after the birth and withdraw from a surrogacy contract without giving the proposed adopting parents rights of child access. If the birth mother decides to keep the child after the proposed adopting parents have turned down custody for any reason, the birth mother "should be able to claim on behalf of the child maintenance from the proposed adopting parents and against their estate." The birth mother would have no such recourse if she did not enforce the agreement by first offering custody.
Serving on the committee with Dillon were Vancouver lawyers Georges Goyer and Karen Nordlinger, Professor Lynn
Smith of UBC's faculty of law, Vancouver pediatrician Dr. Sydney Segal, and Dr. Christo Zouves, medical director of the in vitro fertilization program at UBC's faculty of medicine. Branch President Jim Vilvang, in a brief report to the annual meeting, urged members to take the time to read the annual report to learn of the many things the Branch is doing for them. "The continued vitality of the B.C. Branch comes from the willingness of so many members to serve the profession in so many ways", Vilvang said. "As the past year progress I witnessed the Branch take on more work than I ever thought possible and, for the most part, do it extremely well." Secretary-Treasurer Terry La Liberte noted that the financial statements of the Branch are reported in two sections because the fiscal year was changed to June 30th from December 31st. He said the budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1989 projects a surplus of $10,683 after adjustments. This would build the Branch's accumulated surplus to $21,716, in addition to the $25,000 transferred to general reserves in accordance with a resolution passed by Provincial Council two years ago. Executive Director Bob Smethurst, said in this report that the Branch had received approval from the Law Foundation of B.C. on its request for funding of the Dial-a-Law and