In February 2013 the Health and Welfare Commissioner was asked by the minister of health and social services to issue an advisory report on the relevance of offering certain assisted reproduction services in Québec.
To carry out this mandate, the Commissioner collected data from a variety of sources—including broad public consultations—to obtain a range of viewpoints. This approach included a call for briefs, a call for testimony, meetings with the Consultation Forum, a literature review, quantitative surveys, individual interviews, site visits, and meetings with various professionals active in the field of assisted reproduction. An analysis of medico-administrative data was also performed.
This summary advisory comprises three chapters. The first provides an overview of assisted reproduction in Québec, the rest of Canada, and a number of other countries. The second chapter presents the main data collected on assisted reproduction in Québec since the program was launched. The third details the Commissioner’s recommendations to realign Québec’s assisted reproduction program.
The Commissioner believes that :
- The government should maintain Québec’s assisted reproduction program but should make significant changes to clarify its objectives and redefine its eligibility criteria, while providing the means to assess whether the program’s objectives have been met.
- The program should be re-evaluated after the recommended measures have been implemented, and adjusted based on ensuing results in order to ensure its long-term viability and social acceptability.