Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) yesterday said at least two public hearings would be held on an amendment to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) after the Lunar New Year, while a few civic groups yesterday said their survey data suggested that more than 80 percent of Taiwanese oppose legalizing surrogacy.
As several versions of amendment bills to the act were proposed by lawmakers, mainly for legalizing surrogacy and expanding the eligibility of assisted reproduction to same-sex couples and single women, Hsueh, at the Legislative Yuan last month, said the ministry would gather more information and draft its amendment bill carefully.
With the new legislative session to begin next week, Hsueh was asked by reporters about the ministry’s plans and progress for revising the Assisted Reproduction Act.
Photo: CNA
He said the ministry has discussed the issues with specialists and has decided on the preliminary content, but it has not been assembled to become the Cabinet’s amendment bill.
However, there are different views on legalizing surrogacy mothers, which were aired during the presidential election, with different parties holding different views, so there is still some distance to cover before society reaches a consensus on the issue, he said.
The ministry has instructed the Health Promotion Administration to hold at least two public hearings to gather opinions after the Lunar New Year holiday, Hsueh said, adding that the public hearings would decide whether the amendment to the act should proceed in two phases.
He said that as the issues concerning legalizing surrogacy are more complicated, some lawmakers and experts have suggested temporarily removing it from discussion, and review the other proposed amendments to the act in the first phase, such as legalizing assisted reproduction for same-sex couples and single women.
If most opinions collected are in favor of amending the act in two phases, the ministry would first propose an amendment that excludes articles on legalizing surrogacy, he said, adding that there is no time schedule or predetermined goal set by the ministry at this time.
Separately, members of Pro Femina Taiwan, the Mothers Shield Alliance and the Taiwan Women’s Life Protection Association held a news conference in Taipei yesterday morning to express their opposition against legalizing surrogacy.
Taiwan Women’s Life Protection Association chairperson Hsieh Hui-chen (解慧珍) said they are against expanding the eligibility for assisted reproduction, either for same-sex couples, single women or other circumstances, and are against legalizing surrogacy.
She said that surrogate mothers in other countries are mostly economically underprivileged and less educated, and they are lending their embryos to earn a living, adding that if the pregnancy process is commercialized, the surrogate mothers’ health condition might be neglected, unless it affects the fetus.
Mothers Shield Alliance deputy secretary-general Shan Hsin-ai (單信愛) said that for a pregnant woman, giving birth to a child is like betting their life, given the risks associated with pregnancy and the potential labor complications, and that the risk should not be transferred to underprivileged woman as the surrogate mother.
She said that an online survey conducted by the alliance between Dec. 17 last year and Jan. 1 showed that 82.1 percent of the respondents opposed legalizing surrogacy.
Additional reporting by CNA
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai