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“We won’t have any comment on that or the case,” he said by email. “We are going to defend it in court.’’

Sherry Levitan, a Toronto fertility lawyer, said prospective parents rely heavily on such depictions of surrogates and egg donors, who provide half their child’s genetic makeup. Most never meet the egg donor and would not necessarily be able to verify the accuracy of the profiles, she said.

“You can imagine that when intended parents are choosing an egg donor, the most important aspect is the egg donor’s health,” said Ms. Levitan. “It’s really quite disturbing to think that an intermediary would have changed it.”

She said she worked with a couple last year who were able to compare an egg donor’s original profile and the one they were shown by an agency, and saw clear differences.

In another case, said Ms Levitan, a couple learned from the clinic that was about to perform an egg retrieval that the donor’s health background had been significantly misrepresented in her agency profile.

“It was at the 11th hour,” the lawyer said. “It just wreaked havoc.”

Ms. Picard is also charged under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act with purchasing sperm or egg from a donor, paying a female to be a surrogate mother and accepting consideration for arranging the services of a surrogate mother — or offering to do so.

The law allows people who donate eggs or sperm or act as surrogates to be reimbursed for legitimate expenses, but not paid fees.