Canada: Quebec pays for gay couple’s surrogacy costs for first time
The government in Quebec has for the first time allowed a gay male couple to claim expenses towards having a child through surrogacy.
The case is being considered precedent-setting, and saw Joel Legendre and his husband claimed back the cost through the province’s health insurance board RAMQ.
Legendre and husband’s twins are due in July and are being carried by a surrogate mother who got pregnant through in vitro.
This is not only the first time in Quebec, but the in Canada that such a case has been approved.
Until this case, RAMQ has only covered the procedure for infertile couples, single women and female couples.
Legendre, a radio presenter in Quebec, and his husband were turned down several times by RAMQ before seeking further legal advice.
Eventually they were told that the procedure would be available, and a friend offered to carry the child, but not to be an egg donor.
The couple hope that the publicity surrounding this case will encourage more to access the possibility of surrogacy.
Other gay couples have already filed for the treatment.
