The legislature’s Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau recently completed a study suggesting that lawmakers amend the Genetic Health Act (優生保健法) to allow married women to choose abortion without having to seek consent from their spouses.
As women have autonomy over their body, they should have the right to decide whether to have children, the report said.
The suggestion ran counter to the regulation in the Act that states that married women must obtain spousal consent before seeking abortion unless their spouse is unconscious or mentally ill.
The bureau, which offers consultation to legislators, also suggested that those who are married should be allowed to obtain a tubal ligation or a vasectomy without the agreement of their spouses, as required by law.
The report said lawmakers should also consider amending the Act to allow 18 and 19-year-old unmarried teenagers to have an abortion without having to obtain approval from their parents.
The report also said unmarried women under the age of 18 should also be allowed to decide whether to go through with an abortion as long as they understand the ramifications of their act.
Under the Act, unmarried women under the age of 20 must obtain permission from their parents to have an abortion.
In related developments, the legislature’s Secretariat said that the Asia-Pacific Parliamentarians Union’s annual convention would take place in Taiwan and begin tomorrow as scheduled.
The two-day convention marks the first time Taiwan hosts the event.
Parliamentarians attending the convention are scheduled to sign a joint communique after the summit, the secretariat said.
Delegates from 14 countries will arrive at Taiwan despite the damage caused of Typhoon Morakot, the secretariat said.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
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The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
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