THE REGULATION OF REPRODUCTION: THE RELEVANCE OF PUBLIC OPINION FOR LEGISLATIVE POLICY FORMATION

This paper considers the role of public opinion in informing the debate on legislation currently being developed to handle reproductive technologies in Canada. Substantively, community attitudes towards the new reproductive technologies are examined to determine the extent to which the general public is aware of and approves of these technologies. General social values, which do not reflect ‘expert’ concerns are observed. Respondents strongly support the importance of reproduction and the family, reproductive technologies whichdo not use donors, and express concern about the viability of family relationships when technologies with donors are used. Access to technologies appears tied to assessments of stability within couples using them. Theoretically, this data lends support to a pluralistic-elite type model of social policy formation which is dependent on an attentive, educated public articulating general social values.