BrianGarst.com

Moralistic, do-gooder economic policy has consequences:

Why is it that Canada, a country of 12 million adult men, has only 33 sperm donors to supply its thousands of infertile couples? That’s the question being asked by some fertility doctors as many couples look elsewhere for help growing their families.

Canada once had about two dozen sperm banks. But in 2004, the federal government passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which outlawed payment to sperm or egg donors. The only money that has been allowed to change hands is for expenses incurred in the donation process, such as the costs of traveling to the clinic.

Five years later, there are very few Canadian sperm donors willing to donate for free, says Dr. Tom Hannam of the Hannam Fertility Centre in Toronto. That’s left many couples, especially those among visible minorities, without many choices.

Applying the same lesson to other types of medical donations the question becomes: how many more people would we be able to save if compensation was allowed for organs?

Canada