Sharply polarized debate over stem-cell research again filled the House of Commons Friday morning as the government edged closer to its controversial human reproduction bill.
Bill C-13 will allow the use of human embryos for stem-cell research, regulate fertility clinics and ban cloning and commercial surrogacy. But it is particularly the provisions dealing with stem-cell research that promise to divide the House.
House of Commons Orders of the Day for Friday state blandly that politicians will resume “consideration” that “Bill C-13, An Act respecting assisted human reproduction, be now read a third time and do pass.”
Behind that dry bureaucratic language is an explosive debate over the sanctity of human life and the ideological question of when human life begins. Several Liberal backbenchers have spoken out against the bill, leading to reports that the government had to strike a deal with the New Democratic Party to ensure passage.
A government insider told The Globe and Mail last month that the deal with the NDP — who said that they weren't entirely happy with the bill but did not want it to die outright — “will probably give us the numbers now.”
Advocates argue that the vocal opposition of a small number of Canadians has hijacked the debate and that studies show that embryonic stem-cell research has strong support from the Canadian public.
The debate over the law, which has been in the works for almost a decade, has left Canada with no specific laws governing this area of research.
With a report from The Globe and Mail's Brian Laghi
