While proponents of social (i.e., nonmedical) egg freezing argue that it is liberating for women, opponents contest that the technology provides an individualist solution to a social problem. This article comprises personal and academic reflections on the debate on social egg freezing from four young women studying reproductive technologies. We challenge the promotion of social egg freezing as an empowering option for women and question cultural assumptions about childbearing, the disclosure of risk, failures to consider sexual diversity and socioeconomic status, and the expansion of the market in reproductive tissues.

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The COVID-19 pandemic—with its wide-reaching social, political, and economic implications—showcases the importance of public health governance. Governmental accountability is at the forefront of societal preoccupations, as state actors attempt to manage the pandemic by using sweeping emergency powers which grant them significant discretion. Though emergency measures have tremendous impacts on citizens’ lives, elected officials and civil society have little input in how governments wield these powers. We reviewed available mechanisms in Canadian private, constitutional, and criminal law and found them to be unlikely sources of much-needed accountability. Therefore, we propose that provincial and territorial legislatures modify public health legislation to expand mechanisms to foster public confidence in decision-makers, and bolster accountability to parliaments and citizens.

<p>To achieve and protect public health, collective action is essential, especially through government intervention. In combating the COVID-19 pandemic, societies across the globe have allowed governments to exercise extensive emergency powers, which has led to unprecedented measures and responses, including significant restrictions on citizens' rights. These measures have often been taken swiftly, with little (and sometimes no) input from the electorate or from civil society. This paper describes the breadth of Canadian public authorities’ emergency powers to manage a pandemic, and provides an overview of emergency powers included in public health legislation. It then assesses avenues for accountability through law – specifically through private, criminal and constitutional law. It argues that accountability through private law litigation is the wrong avenue to pursue in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and that criminal law safeguards and constitutional rights litigation only offer limited accountability. Finally, it presents an argument in favour of enhancing public accountability to parliaments and citizens through public health legislation.</p>