We pay tribute to the courage of women’s organizations, individuals and human rights activists in Taiwan who are speaking out against attempts to open up surrogacy in Taiwan, as outlined in the Taipei Times article “Public hearings to be held on surrogacy” published on Jan. 23.
In doing so, they add their voices to those of other women’s organizations fighting against surrogacy in Belgium, Germany, Ukraine, Canada, Japan, South Korea, South American countries and elsewhere.
Surrogacy is wrongly portrayed as progress with a bright side, with intended parents elated to receive the children they have ordered, yet the dark side of surrogacy remains invisible: Nobody really cares about the women hired as surrogate mothers or the children born through surrogacy. However, everyone should be aware that surrogate pregnancies are riskier than natural pregnancies because of the technology used: genetic material foreign to the surrogate mother and multiple embryo transfers. Women who agree to this practice do so mostly out of economic necessity. All surrogacy contracts require surrogate mothers to give up their fundamental rights for the duration of the pregnancy, and international conventions show that surrogacy is akin to the sale of children and human trafficking.
We are grateful to Shan Hsin-ai (單信愛) and Hsieh Hui-chen (解慧珍), quoted in the Jan. 23 article, for raising these neglected issues in their speech.
Listen to the testimony of Alivia Maurel, a young woman born through surrogacy. At 32 years old, she still deals with a strong sense of abandonment and cannot get over the idea of having been exchanged for money. She was invited to speak in the Czech parliament and a video of her speech can be watched online.
The best interests of a child should not be bought or sold.
Marie-Josephe Devillers is co-president of the International Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogate Motherhood.
A gap appears to be emerging between Washington’s foreign policy elites and the broader American public on how the United States should respond to China’s rise. From my vantage working at a think tank in Washington, DC, and through regular travel around the United States, I increasingly experience two distinct discussions. This divergence — between America’s elite hawkishness and public caution — may become one of the least appreciated and most consequential external factors influencing Taiwan’s security environment in the years ahead. Within the American policy community, the dominant view of China has grown unmistakably tough. Many members of Congress, as
After declaring Iran’s military “gone,” US President Donald Trump appealed to the UK, France, Japan and South Korea — as well as China, Iran’s strategic partner — to send minesweepers and naval forces to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. When allies balked, the request turned into a warning: NATO would face “a very bad” future if it refused. The prevailing wisdom is that Trump faces a credibility problem: having spent years insulting allies, he finds they would not rally when he needs them. That is true, but superficial, as though a structural collapse could be caused by wounded feelings. Something
Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founding chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, making headlines across major media. However, another case linked to the TPP — the indictment of Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) for alleged violations of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) on Tuesday — has also stirred up heated discussions. Born in Shanghai, Xu became a resident of Taiwan through marriage in 1993. Currently the director of the Taiwan New Immigrant Development Association, she was elected to serve as legislator-at-large for the TPP in 2023, but was later charged with involvement
Out of 64 participating universities in this year’s Stars Program — through which schools directly recommend their top students to universities for admission — only 19 filled their admissions quotas. There were 922 vacancies, down more than 200 from last year; top universities had 37 unfilled places, 40 fewer than last year. The original purpose of the Stars Program was to expand admissions to a wider range of students. However, certain departments at elite universities that failed to meet their admissions quotas are not improving. Vacancies at top universities are linked to students’ program preferences on their applications, but inappropriate admission
RSS