38 year-old Canadian, Alicia Chonn, is suing the Olive Fertility Center, which she claims used her eggs without her consent to inseminate the friend whose first child she carried as the surrogate mother.
In fact, eight months after the birth of the baby who was then handed over to the intended parents, she received an emergency call from the clinic, urging her to consent to a second procedure – her friend was “prepared for an insemination procedure“. IVF was carried out using Alicia’s eggs. Her friend was “on the table, waiting to be implanted with an embryo“. “Completely devastated and shocked,” Alicia did not give her consent. However, the transfer went ahead and a second baby boy was born in August 2016.
According to Alicia Chonn’s lawyer, Canadian law does not allow a donor’s germ cells to be used “without written consent“: “They knew that she had not given her consent and that was contrary to the law governing assisted procreation “. Furthermore, the plaintiff is accusing the clinic of profiting from this unbeknown to her. In Canada, surrogate mothers are not remunerated for their services whereas fertility clinics receive “very large sums” from the intended parents. “It’s so devastating. Because I carried the first child, I’m now presented with an option that I didn’t even know was possible,” she explained.
The lawyer announced that the birth of the second child had had “devastating emotional and psychological consequences” on Alicia who “felt violated and used”. She cannot accept the fact that another woman has “given birth to [her] son“. Now estranged from the intended parents, Alicia Chonn says that she will not be able to see the two boys again: “The reality is that I may never see them again. It’s something that I have to face every day“.
CBC News Canada, Eric Rankin (30/11/2017)