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The act also prohibits obtaining sperm or eggs from a person under 18, unless there is a reasonable expectation that the “donor” will be able to raise the child.

“It’s considered a criminal offence to retrieve sperm and eggs unless the patient themselves had given written consent,” said urologist Dr. Keith Jarvi, of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital. “We are not even allowed to consider it. We can’t just trust the family’s consent, we can’t just trust the partner’s consent. We have to have something indicating directly from the patient that was their desire.”

Canada limits use of post-mortem sperm to one of three options, one of which is reproductive use by the person’s partner, said Dalhousie University bioethicist Francoise Baylis. (Men can also consent to have their sperm used for training or education purposes.)

“Note — there is not the option of consent to the reproductive use of gametes for someone else’s reproductive project,” Baylis said in an email. “If a new life is to be created, it can only happen in the context of a prior family structure.”

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In the Zhu case, the grandparents’ “parental” project is selfish, Baylis said. It satisfies personal needs, and not necessarily the needs of their deceased son, “or the needs of a being that does not yet exist (and so does not have needs),” she said.

“Further, if one thinks about the new life that is to be created — who is going to care for this child? The grandparents? The egg donor?” Baylis said. “What origin story will be told to this child? How will they experience this?”