Sept 16/10 - Pt 1: IVF in Quebec

---

PART ONE

It's Thursday, September 16th.

Stephen Harper's former communications director has stepped down as the head of SunTV. Kory Teneycke says he can't be part of a bid to create a conservative news network because his ties to the Prime Minister gave the perception of political interference.

Currently, ladies and gentlemen... our newest Senator!

This is The Current.

IVF in Quebec - Abby Lippman

We started this segment with a a clip from Yves Bolduc, Quebec's Health Minister. Last month, the Quebec Government began covering the cost of several fertility treatments including egg harvesting, embryo transfer and up to three rounds of in-vitro fertilization or IVF. It's expected to cost the government about $25 million this year and as much as $70 million a year by the time as expected newborns join the annually by 2014.

This morning, as part of Shift, our focus on Canada's changing demographics, we're looking at the Quebec Government's efforts to boost the province's birth rate. It's something Catherine Williams is happy to be part of. She's 30. She and her boyfriend live in Montreal. They've spent three years and thousands of dollars trying to get pregnant. And now, thanks to government-funded IVF treatments, she's due to have her first child in May.

But not everyone is as optimistic about the Quebec Government's decision to fund fertility treatments. The Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists says the province doesn't have the doctors or the physical resources to make the project work. And Abby Lippman shares some of those worries. She teaches in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. She's also a member of the board on Le Federation du Quebec pour le Planning des Naissances, an organization that works on issues of Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice. She was in Montreal.

Articles: Quebec will fun in vitro fertilization treatment / Quebec In Vitro Alarms Doctors / Concerns rise over in-vitro fertilization program

Beverly Hanck has a very different take on this issue. She's the Executive Director of the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada. And she spent five years lobbying the Quebec government to fund IVF. She was in our Montreal studio.

CBC does not endorse content of external sites - links will open in new window