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Talk about taking the bull by the horns. 31-year-old civil servant, Toban Morrison, always knew he wanted a family. But at age 28 that just wasn't happening. He wasn't in a serious relationship. Then his grandfather died suddenly, spurring Morrison into action.
"I'm not the kind of person that sits around and waits for destiny," he said.
Morrison had considered adoption until he saw a website offering surrogacy services. Although surrogacy is legal in Canada, it's not legal if any cash is exchanged. In fact, paying for a woman to carry a baby that isn't hers carries a hefty "reproductive material" fine of $500,000 or 10 years imprisonment.
Having donated sperm and paid for a surrogate in Mumbai, India with a $25,000 inheritance from his beloved grandfather, Toban finally welcomed a baby boy, Orion Preet Morrison, into his life on July 26.
An astronomy buff, Morrison named his son after the Hunter constellation which translates, aptly, as 'the coming light'.
"When I look at Orion, I just see a lot of myself in him," said Morrison. "I've been waiting for this for three years. I feel like I've known him forever."
According to Star reports, single men actually form a very small proportion of surrogacy clientele in India, at around 0.4 per cent. The surrogates themselves are all married mothers under the age of 32, who earn around $7,500 or $1,000 for egg donors. Clients must also meet certain criteria, such as financial stability and a decent support network, including female caretakers.
It's an unconventional route to parenthood, for sure, but is what's known as 'medical tourism' wrong, morally and ethically speaking? To Juliet Guichon, a bioethicist from Calgary, it's exploitation, plain and simple.
"This is not employment," says Guichon, "because no employment goes 24 hours a day... It's the use of a woman's body by wealthier people."
If Morrison -- who eventually plans to take Orion to India to learn about his heritage -- proves to be a caring and committed father, does it really matter about the baby's origins? Does the baby have a right to have a mother in his life?
Image Credit: thestar.com