Sat, Feb 02, 2002 page8

• It's time to get rid of eugenics law

  • By Hsu Chia-ching and Chen I-lin 徐佳青 陳逸玲
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  Under the Genetic Health Law (優生保健法), abortions for pregnant teenagers may only be performed with the consent of the girls' legal guardians. As a result, many girls who are too frightened to tell their parents that they are pregnant resort to illegal abortions that cause them significant physical and mental harm.

  The Department of Health is reportedly planning to amend the law to allow impartial social organizations to assist pregnant teens with problems related to pregnancy. The Taipei Association for the Promotion of Wo-men's Rights (TAPWR, 女權會) would support such a move. An amendment that would allow an impartial third party to help teenagers receive safe abortions when necessary would also serve to protect the girls' health rights.

  The Genetic Health Law, enacted in 1984, is a product of the population control policy of the time. The law not only aimed to control a growing population, but to promote eugenics as well. The promotion of eugenics, however, involves discrimination among human beings and is an idea that has long been rejected in the developed world.

  Under the law, the termination of pregnancies is legal in cases of persons with genetic defects -- such as hereditary, infectious and psychological diseases -- in order to promote genetic health and improve the quality of the nation's population. This implies that the existence of certain people in society is inappropriate and clearly amounts to a form of oppression.

  Moreover, the law tries to control women's bodies by adopting a patriarchal ideology, as it stipulates that married women must have the consent of their husbands before having abortions.

  The purpose of the Genetic Health Law is to regulate birth control. It should therefore be based on the best interests of mothers and their children, not on an ideology for improving the nation's population.

  The TAPWR and the Taiwan Women's League (台灣女人連線) recently proposed a "mother and child health law" (母子保健法) -- based on the need to protect the health of all mothers and their children, as well as to improve their quality of life -- in an effort to change both the spirit and direction of the current regulations. The proposal emphasizes government initiative in the distribution of resources, the public's access to necessary information and a woman's rights to make her own decision.

  For its part, the government should perform the function of assisting the public, instead of interfering in -- or taking control of -- childbirth plans.

  People have the right, for example, to demand that the government provide health check-ups for pregnant women, rather than to have a system where the government can force women to undergo such exams.

  Instead of practicing a form of selective breeding, a government that claims to support human rights should provide sufficient information for parents so that they can have a clear understanding of the possible consequences of their actions -- such as proceeding with the delivery of a baby with congenital defects -- as well as the support resources available to them. Only with sufficient information can people possibly make their own informed decisions.

  As for abortions, the proposed "mother and child health law"calls for the right to decide whether to have an abortion to be vested in the pregnant woman. Whether to give birth is certainly an issue that needs to be discussed by both parents. But who should make the final decision when the parents disagree?

  Women still take most of the responsibility for nursing children. When a woman becomes pregnant, she must consider whether her family's condition or her own physical and mental condition allow for such a great responsibility. She must also consider whether she has enough resources to support the baby.

  It is never easy for a woman to decide whether or not to give birth. Legalizing abortion does not mean we do not respect human life. Rather, it shows that we are trying to ensure the quality of life of each and every human being so that everyone can be well looked after.

  If the Department of Health decides to amend the law it will have made a worthy decision. But it must clearly understand the changes in our society and it must show foresight in the policy it adopts. Parts of the Genetic Health Law, including the promotion of eugenics and population control, are outdated.

  Facing such a serious issue, we should not focus on questions such as what kinds of people should or should not be born. Rather, we should provide people with sufficient information about the resources available to them once their children are born, helping them to understand whether their children will grow up in an environment that is suitable for them. That's how a human life is truly respected.

  Hsu Chia-ching is the secretary-general of the Taiwan Women's League. Chen I-lin is the vice secretary-general of the Taipei Association for the Promotion of Women's Rights.

  Translated by Eddy Chang
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