Health Law & Innovation
What legal, regulatory, and policy reforms are most urgently required to advance the health of underserved populations? This research theme aims to address the needs of individuals and groups who have been historically marginalized and raises questions about greater accountability in health governance and decision-making.
Projects
More people are conceiving children using donated eggs than ever before, but very little is known about the women who provide those eggs, and how their experience of donation affects their bodies and lives. What we do know is that egg donation is a complex experience in which donors want to help people build their families, but are often not informed about risks, and may be treated as a means to the reproductive ends of others. This project is the first large-scale study of egg donation in Canada. Our goal is to work with egg donors to chronicle their stories, and to improve relevant law and public policy. In 2022 and 2023, we interviewed 53 people who donated eggs in Canadian clinics.
Egg freezing is an assisted reproductive technology (ART) that is used to preserve a person’s eggs. Since fertility for people with ovaries, largely women, declines as eggs age, egg freezing allows people to preserve their eggs when they are younger so that they can use them later, increasing their chances of using those eggs to create a pregnancy. It is advertised as a way to “have it all” and has been lauded for its potential as fertility insurance, allowing people to take control of their reproduction and delay childbearing until the time is right.
