Surrogate motherhood is still controversial and some points of contention need to be clarified through citizens’ conference meetings, the Bureau of Health Promotion said this weekend.
A two-day preparatory meeting before the formal consensus conference on the issue, scheduled to take place later this month, was held at National Taiwan University’s Department of Sociology this weekend, in the hope that 20 participants from the general public cOULD be briefed on the issue.
Associate professor OF sociology at the National Taiwan University, Lin Kuo-ming (林國明), said the bureau had commissioned the department to hold a consensus conference on surrogate motherhood in 2004, during which it had been concluded that it was to conditionally endorse surrogate motherhood and that the bureau should draft a surrogacy bill and have it passed BY the legislature.
However, nearly eight years have passed and the draft act has yet to win approval. To resolve the controversial issue, the bureau decided to hold a consensus conference again this year in order to provide reference to the government in its policymaking decisions.
The bureau said the main points of controversy that need discussion at the conference include the determination of applicable individuals, how to protect the rights of the consignors, the surrogate mother and the infant during pregnancy, as well as addressing the issue of when parenthood begins. They are also keen to address whether the surrogate mother should receive compensation for her pregnancy.
The controversial point of determining applicable individuals include whether donated sperm and eggs can be used in surrogacy for couples who have difficulty conceiving, the bureau said, adding that the original draft act stated that a child born through surrogacy should be considered the child of the consignors starting from the implant of the fertilized egg, while some experts consider adoption after birth to be a better solution.
The bureau said that although artificial reproductive technology is regulated by the law and managed under strict control in Taiwan, the controversial issue of surrogacy was provisionally excluded from the Artificial Reproduction Act (人工生殖法), and therefore surrogacy is still illegal.
With Web-based surrogacy advertisements becoming common, bureau Deputy Director Kung Hsien-lan (孔憲蘭) said the cases touch on a broad range of regulations which need to be considered.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS