Lawmakers, groups urge overhaul of Genetic Health Law

PFP legislators Kao Ming-chien (高明見) and Lee Yung-ping (李永萍), along with some women's groups, yesterday called on the legislature to delay a review of a draft bill to revise the Genetic Health Law (優生保健法) scheduled for Thursday.

"It is a deprivation of women's autonomy that they need their husbands' consent to terminate a pregnancy," said Chen I-lin (陳逸玲), secretary-general of the Taipei Association for the Promotion of Women's Rights, at a press conference yesterday.

Chen was commenting on a bill introduced by KMT Legislator Chiang Chi-wen (江綺雯), which critics say will further restrict abortions.

The Genetic Health Law was enacted in 1984. It was intended to control the growing population but critics say it also promotes eugenics.

The most controversial part in the law is the requirement that women need the consent of either their legal guardians, if under-aged, or their husbands if they are married.

Chiang, who has a Catholic background, has proposed requiring women wanting an abortion to go through at least a two-hour consultation session with experts, followed by a six-day reflection period.

Chiang's draft amendment would still require the agreement of either the legal guardian or husband for an abortion to be carried out. It also calls for gynecologists to encourage pregnancy and advocate an embryo's right to life when women approach them for abortion advice.

Kao, Lee and the women's groups maintain that women should be able to terminate their pregnancies according to their own will.

"If the law imposes too many limitations, abortion procedure will only go further underground than they are now," Lee said.

Chang Chueh (張玨), an associate professor at National Taiwan University's Institute of Health Policy and Management, also attended the press conference.

She said: "The government should not force women to have consultations and think that this will solve all the problems. We think consultations are necessary in order for women to have various channels to obtain detailed information regarding birth or abortion."

"It is essential that the experts conducting the consultations have a good understanding of gender issues and they may need to take some gender-awareness classes before they can start this kind of consultation work," Chang said.

The women groups will offer their own draft proposal -- a birth health law (生育保健法) -- later this week that seeks to eliminate the eugenic ideology. Their amendment will state that women should be allowed to terminate their pregnancies without the agreement of their legal guardians or partners.

The Legislative Yuan will also offer compromise amendment -- the mother-child health law (母子保健法) -- that is a compromise between Chiang's draft and that of the women's groups. This version would retain the rule that women must have their guardian or husband's consent in order to have an abortions.