Doctors who work in assisted reproduction in Quebec are concerned about how a proposed bill that would end government funding of in vitro fertilization will affect the thousands of embryos that are currently in frozen storage.

Bill 20 proposes to drastically scale back Quebec's publicly-funded IVF program. If the bill passes this spring, the province would pay for IVF only in certain cases, such as for those left infertile by chemotherapy or other medical treatment.

Dr. William Buckett, the medical director of the Reproductive Centre at the McGill University Health Centre, says if IVF is no longer publicly funded, couples who already have embryos in storage at his facility could be left without the means to make use of them.

Buckett says there are currently approximately 15,000 embryos from 3,000 Quebec families stored at the MUHC reproductive centre. Women who want to attempt pregnancy by having the embryos transferred to their uteruses would have to foot the bill themselves, and Buckett worries many won't be able to afford the thousands of dollars in costs.

"If people had to pay for treatment for their already cryopreserved embryos, of course there may be people who can't afford that. And I think that would be tragic," Buckett told CTV Montreal.

Health minister Gaetan Barrette says for now, the embryos are safe.

"The conservation of the embryos will be maintained as we speak and we'll have to decide what to do after that," he told reporters Wednesday.

But Barrette says he's already heard from many who say it should be up to patients to pay if they want to continue their infertility treatments using the frozen embryos.

As for the planned cuts to the IVF program, Barrette says the program has to be scaled back because its costs are simply too high for the province.

Quebec began covering all the costs of IVF back in 2010, allowing couples to receive compensation for up to three full IVF attempts. But the program quickly became so popular it ran over budget, with annual costs soaring from $27 million a year to $67 million.

Bill 20 would not only scale back the program, it would also ban women aged 42 and over from using IVF at all, even if they choose to pay for it themselves, or if they use an egg donor.

The Ontario government, meanwhile, promised last April it would soon begin offering coverage for the costs of one cycle of in vitro fertilization for those with all forms of infertility. Fertility medications would not be covered. Although the province said the program would begin in early 2015, there has been no further news on the plans.

Buckett says he's still hopeful the province will amend the types of circumstances in which IVF would be funded.

"I would hope that it's not quite as draconian as the initial proposal that we heard at the end of November. I would hope that some publicly funded IVF is retained," he says.

Quebec mother Annie Baillargeon says she's disappointed the program may be coming to an end. Without IVF, she would never have become a mother. She fought for publicly funded reproductive treatments and the proposed changes to Bill 20 have her feeling defeated.

"We were so leading edge. We were seen as a model everywhere. And now, it's such a step back," she says.

A parliamentary committee will be holding hearings on the bill, getting feedback from health groups, doctors and patients. The health minister says everything will be considered and amendments could be made. The hearings wrap up March 25.

Annie Baillargeon says she'll be watching closely, waiting to see if the government stands down, even a little.

With a report from CTV Montreal's Tarah Schwartz