Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne says the former policy of a Calgary fertility clinic to restrict patients to using sperm donors of their same racial background highlights the need for clear ethical guidelines as the province moves toward funding invitro fertilization.

“This is a really good example of how when we look at this, these kinds of issues, it’s about a lot more than the money to fund the service,” he said Tuesday.

Horne added he was “surprised” to learn of the policy, which Calgary’s Regional Fertility Program, a private clinic, claims had been in place up to last year.

“I don’t agree with it, I don’t think it’s in keeping with the values of Albertans or society generally,” Horne said.

The minister said the province is now going through the assessment process to determine eligibility criteria for publicly funded fertility treatments, which would likely hinge on the basis of patients’ medical suitability and the number of embryos to be implanted and the number of cycles to be covered.

“There’s some ethical issues that have to be considered and ethical questions that have to be answered,” he said.

However he stopped short of saying individual physicians should be compelled to provide fertility treatment, even if they disagree with the choice of donor, as was the case at the Regional Fertility Program, Calgary’s only fertility clinic. He said the conduct of individual physicians is regulated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.

The College has previously told the Herald that physicians have the right to withhold any non-emergency treatment due to moral or ethical objections as long as they refer patients to doctors who will provide the services they seek.

Horne’s comments came the day after the Regional Fertility Program released a statement claiming it had cancelled its controversial policy last year and distanced itself from controversial comments made by its administrative director, Dr. Calvin Greene.

The clinic became the subject of international headlines after an exclusive report by the Herald last week revealed a patient at the clinic seeking invitro fertilization was told she could not use sperm donors who were not Caucasian.

Catherine, who asked to be referred to by her first name only, said she was informed of the policy in March 2013 during routine consultations for IVF. Greene, who was not her doctor, responded to the Herald’s request for comment and confirmed the policy existed in two separate interviews.

“I’m not sure that we should be creating rainbow families just because some single woman decides that that’s what she wants,” he said. “That’s her prerogative, but that’s not her prerogative in our clinic.”

He also referred the Herald to the clinic’s website that stated: “It is the practice of the Regional Fertility Program not to permit the use of a sperm donor that would result in a future child appearing racially different than the recipient or the recipient’s partner.”

The statement has since been removed.

In a release, the clinic’s spokeswoman Paula Arab said the Regional Fertility Program had failed to update its website sooner due to an “oversight.”

“Since changing our policy last year, the clinic has treated numerous patients who have requested donors of different ethnicity.”