Final arguments wrapped up on Tuesday during a hearing for an injunction to stop two Quebec men from donating sperm. The men are defiant and one of them, Philippe Normand, said if he can’t do it in Quebec, he’d move to another province where he can. It was a move that caught the lawyers and the judge off guard and came after an exchange about the area a ban would cover. Normand, who has fathered more than 100 children, repeatedly asked the judge for clarity on that point because if he is restricted from donating sperm in Quebec, he might move to Ontario. A Noovo Info documentary revealed the two men may may have fathered hundreds of children. Normand’s statements on Tuesday led to the court breaking to look at the question and the lawyers for the mother bringing the injunction forward asking for it to be widened to cover all of Canada. More questions followed in court as to if that’s even possible because of jurisdiction. The two men at the centre of the case are a father and son. On Tuesday morning, Dominik Seelos — the younger of the two who is in his mid-30s and estimates he has 240 children — argued that granting the injunction would infringe on his reproductive rights, adding there is a double standard between what is deemed acceptable for men and for women. He also re-iterated that he is trying to help women with fertility issues, especially those approaching menopause, and that instead of going to a costly clinic where women face certain restrictions about weight or age he provides his service for free. It was a point his father also raised in court, adding that being a sperm donor is part of his identity. “By law, we have to do it for free ... we cannot sell sperm, it’s illegal,” Normand said outside of court. “It’s like selling blood. We are not allowed. We are only allowed to have expenses like gas expenses so we don’t do it to have money, we do it to have kids” Justice Simon Chamberland is expected to rule on the injunction on Friday. Noovo Info is owned by Bell Media, which is a division of BCE.
