Officials are discussing decoupling legal changes related to assisted reproduction from the more controversial issue of surrogacy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as the government is looking to boost the nation’s flagging birthrate.
The ministry earlier this year announced a draft amendment to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法), proposing to legalize assisted reproduction for same-sex couples and unmarried people.
The proposed amendment received much feedback, with significant concerns arising regarding surrogacy, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) said in an interview yesterday.
Photo: Taipei Times
Women’s rights and gender advocacy organizations support prioritizing assisted reproduction rights for single women and same-sex female couples first, as these aspects are less controversial.
“Granting access to assisted reproduction technology is a way to support women who cannot find a suitable partner or do not plan to marry a man,” Lin said, adding that the proposed amendment would continue to be discussed.
The current law only permits married heterosexual couples access to assisted reproduction, Taiwanese Society for Reproductive Medicine chairwoman Tsai Ying-mei (蔡英美) said.
“Many women freeze their eggs in their 30s, but they typically wait until about age 40, when married life is more stable, to use them,” Tsai said.
Women’s fertility typically begins to decline after age 30, with ovarian function, egg count and quality, and the likelihood of embryo implantation all decreasing and the risk of pregnancy-related hypertension increasing, Tsai said.
For in vitro fertilization, the success rate is about 44 percent for women aged 35 or younger, 18 percent for women aged 40 or older, and 7.6 percent after age 42, she said.
Married heterosexual couples usually freeze embryos rather than eggs, but as frozen embryos would be destroyed if the couple divorces, some married women still freeze their eggs to hold on to their reproductive autonomy, Tsai said.
On Thursday, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Liu Chin-ching (劉鏡清) told lawmakers that the decline in Taiwan’s birthrate would be difficult to reverse, as is the case in many developed countries.
In his report to the legislature, Liu cited two problems that young Taiwanese face that prevent them from having children: Finding a spouse and caring for their parents.
In Taiwan the vast majority of children are born to married couples (96.25 percent last year), meaning that Taiwanese usually marry before having children, unlike Western societies, he said.
As a result, the government needs to provide greater assistance with childcare, help married couples secure housing earlier or more easily and relieve the burden on young people taking care of their parents, he said.
Over the past 16 years, former presidents Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) recognized that the population issue was a national security crisis that cannot be solved in a short period, Liu said, responding to lawmakers’ questions about the failure of government policies to boost the birthrate.
The NDC is working to optimize relevant programs, but would require an estimated budget of NT$50 billion (US$1.56 billion) to be effective, he said.
Moreover, for an more comprehensive set of measures, the budget would need to increase to NT$100 billion annually, he added.
However, as there is no fixed budget for NDC programs to increase the birthrate, Liu said he hoped the government would instead draft special budgets.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS