OTTAWA : Sensitive Study

A Canadian Royal Commission on Reproductive Technologies will today release results of a four-year study on these medical innovations and the ethical questions they raise.

The commissioners have attempted to decide how such rare and costly procedures as in-vitro fertilization should be allocated in Canada--a country where the state provides free health care. The report will also lay down recommendations on the use of tissue from aborted embryos, on surrogate motherhood and on the question of whether some women are “unfit” to receive artificial insemination.

The commission is likely to propose a ban on paid surrogate motherhood (but not on volunteer surrogacy) and to call for a new body that would license fertility clinics.