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→Assisted reproduction
#the spouse of a surrogate mother.
==Assisted reproductionprocesses==
Assisted reproduction refers to the use of different kinds of strategies or technologies to help people conceive and carry a child to term when they can't, or don't want, to do so through natural reproduction. ("Natural reproduction," of course, is a fancy way of saying ''sex''.) Assisted reproduction may be necessary when a single person wants to have a child on their own, when the people involved in a family relationship are of the same sex, when one of the people involved in an opposite-sex relationship is sterile or infertile, or when a woman is unable to carry a pregnancy to term. Problems involving sterility and infertility may be addressed through the use of sperm or eggs donated by a third-party, while problems involving carrying a pregnancy to term may be addressed by having another woman carry the pregnancy.
Sometimes "assisted reproduction" refers to medications or medical procedures intended to help a woman ovulate and release an egg that can be fertilized by a man's sperm. Most of the time assisted reproduction refers to fertilization of eggs outside the body in a laboratory setting, called "in vitro fertilization." In cases like this, eggs are removed from a woman's ovaries and fertilized with a man's sperm in a petri dish. If the fertilization is successful, the fertilized egg — called a ''zygote'' — is surgically implanted in a woman's uterus, where it is expected that the zygote will develop into a fetus and be carried to term.
There are also cases where people attempt to fertilize an egg at home, outside a laboratory, using a device like a poultry baster to introduce the sperm directly into a woman's vagina, and from there into her uterus and into her fallopian tubes where fertilization occurs.
Laboratory processes can be extremely expensive and time-consuming, taking tens of thousands of dollars and many years to implant a zygote and bear it to term. Home-based processes, while perhaps less likely to result in a viable fetus, at least have the benefit of being cheap.
==Assisted reproduction agreements==
Section 26(1) of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' says that the parents of a child are usually the child's birth mother and biological father. However, sections 24, 27, 29 and 30 have different rules when a child is conceived using artificial reproduction, and other rules which allow people to make an agreement that specifies who the parents of a child will be when the child is conceived using artificial reproduction.
===Donors===
Under section 24 of the ''Family Law Act'', the donor of eggs or sperm is ''not '' the parent of a child conceived by artificial reproduction merely because of the donation, and may not be declared to be a parent of a child. This section is very important. It means that a person can donate eggs or sperm without worrying that they will be asked a legal parent of any resulting child, and potentially be liable to pay support that child support down at some point in the roadfuture.
A donor ''can '' be a parent , on the other hand, if the intended parents and the donor sign a written assisted reproduction agreement before the child is conceived that says that the donor will be a parent. Donors who are parents under an assisted reproduction agreement are parents for all purposes under the ''Family Law Act''; they are presumed to be the guardians of a child and may be required to pay child support for the benefit of the child.
===Surrogate mothers===
===Assisted reproduction after death===
====What happens if the donor dies?====
People who aim to have children by assisted reproduction ― including through ''in vitro'' fertilization when no one other than the intended parents are involved ― often freeze eggs, sperm, and embryos for future use. This is especially common where multiple attempts may be necessary to have a successful pregnancy. It sometimes happens that one of the people who provide the genetic <span class="noglossary">material</span> dies before a child is conceived.