Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday called for an upcoming review of amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) — which would allow assisted reproduction for single women and same-sex female partnerships — to be decoupled from the issue of surrogacy.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced its draft amendments on May 14, seeking to expand the use of assisted reproduction from heterosexual couples to same-sex couples, single women and surrogate mothers.
Its proposal is expected to be submitted to the Executive Yuan this month for approval.
Photo courtesy of DPP Legislator Lin Yueh-chin’s office
Meanwhile, the Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, and Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee are slated to host a joint meeting on Thursday to examine the 16 versions of the amendments to the act drafted by governing and opposition lawmakers.
Eight DPP legislators yesterday hosted a joint news conference calling for the protection of women’s reproductive rights and opposing the inclusion of surrogacy in the bill.
The act is far from perfect, and it should be decoupled from the issue of surrogacy, DPP Legislator Huang Hsiung-fang (黃秀芳) said.
Whether to legalize surrogacy is a controversial issue, so deliberations must continue, and the issues should be separated to avoid public outcry, she said.
Whether to bear children is the personal choice of every woman and does not affect the personal interests of others, DPP Legislator Lin Yueh-chin (林月琴) said, adding that surrogacy is an ethically fraught issue which could affect the autonomy of the surrogate mother.
“I oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party’s proposal to slip surrogacy into the Assisted Reproduction Act,” she said.
Lin said although she supports single mothers and same-sex female couples in using reproductive assistance technology, surrogacy requires the use of another woman’s womb, shifting the health risks to the surrogate and turning healthy children into consumer products, while unhealthy children might be easily discarded of.
Financial transactions would be unavoidable in negotiating the legality of surrogacy, making the law especially complicated, she added.
The legal intricacies of surrogacy cannot be entirely covered by the act, as there is conflict of interest for many of the parties involved, divides public opinion, and overlooks and exploits basic human rights, DPP Legislator Jean Kuo (郭昱晴) said.
It should not be muddled in with the legalization of reproductive assistance for single women and same-sex female partnerships, for which support has already reached a majority consensus, she added.
Legislators should not force society to accept surrogacy, DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said, adding that 23 countries in Europe legally prohibit it.
The protections afforded to surrogate mothers after childbirth is also a source of concern, she said, questioning who would bear the responsibility if they suffer from post-natal depression or health complications.
Surrogacy is not just renting a womb, it is asking another woman to undertake the health risks, Lin Shu-fen.
DPP lawmakers Wang Cheng-hsu (王正旭), Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜), Huang Jie (黃捷) and Ariel Chang (張雅琳) also attended the news conference.
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