The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that it would propose an amendment to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) that would allow single women, unmarried couples and lesbian couples to access assisted reproductive procedures, while adding that the government should subsidize women who choose to have their eggs frozen.
“The act has limited access to assisted reproductive procedures to married heterosexual couples, but it should apply to unmarried couples, single women and lesbian couples as well. The procedures are technically feasible and have a higher success rate, and they would help raise the nation’s declining birthrate in the short term,” said KMT legislator-elect Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), who is also a fertility specialist.
“We hope the different political parties would pass the part of the amendment that they agree on and host public hearings on some of the controversial issues, such as whether surrogacy should be allowed in Taiwan,” she said.
Photo: Shih Hsiao-kuang, Taipei Times
On average, a married woman in Taiwan has about 1.5 children, Chen said, adding that the government should offer public daycare facilities and other incentives for them to have more.
The birthrate among unmarried women remains low, which in turn lowers the nation’s overall birthrate, she said.
Studies have also shown that the average age of a woman first getting married is 31, compared with 27 two decades ago, she said, adding that 43 percent of women in Taiwan aged 25 to 40 are not married.
Only 25 percent of the women would get married if they become pregnant, down from about 50 percent six to seven years ago, studies show.
“The government should allow unmarried women to access oocyte cryopreservation, so that they maintain the choice for childbirth when they are in their 40s,” Chen said.
Critics said that the subsidies for oocyte cryopreservation would see women further postpone childbirth.
“What we are seeing now is that many married couples have already chosen not to have children, without government subsidies for oocyte cryopreservation,” Chen said.
“We are also seeing increasingly more women choosing to devote the peak time of their child-bearing years to their careers and education, which is an irreversible global trend,” she said.
Women in their 40s have a 5 percent chance of getting pregnant through natural conception, while the chance would be increased to 20 percent through in vitro fertilization, she said.
The pregnancy rate for women who undergo oocyte cryopreservation could reach 60 to 70 percent, she said, adding that they could have one or multiple children at a time.
Chen said there exists an enormous information gap between those who are for and those who are against surrogacy, judging from comments on social media.
An online poll she created showed 45 percent of respondents supported the policy if it has clear regulations, while 40 percent said they opposed it, Chen said.
“At the first stage, we would ensure that the amendment of the act covers all women who want to have children through assisted reproductive procedures. We will continue to have dialogue with the public over controversial issues and hopefully reach a consensus,” she said.
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