The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it has decided to separate the issue of surrogacy from its proposed package of amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法).
The ministry’s draft amendments were first announced on May 14, with the ministry aiming to broaden access to artificial insemination for single women, same-sex couples and surrogate mothers.
The amendments were to be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review this month, but the ministry changed its position after women’s groups and lawmakers opposed the proposed “surrogate mother system.”
Photo: CNA
Surrogacy is illegal in Taiwan, but concerns about the nation’s falling fertility rate and declining population have shifted public opinion toward allowing couples to use surrogate mothers.
On Monday morning, eight Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers called for the issue of surrogacy to be addressed separately from the Assisted Reproduction Act, and the ministry later that day announced it would first deal with the draft amendments in which a consensus has been achieved — including broadening eligibility for assisted reproduction to lesbians and single women — while addressing the more contentious issue of surrogacy separately.
“Civil society groups and the public have continued to express their opposition to surrogacy,” Health Promotion Administration Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said.
A survey found that “about 80 percent” of more than 600 comments received by the ministry concerning potential changes to the law expressed opposition to surrogacy, Wu said.
“It is difficult to weigh the rights and interests of various stakeholders involved in the surrogacy process,” he said, referring to surrogate children, surrogate mothers and those seeking surrogate births.
Given the change in direction on surrogacy, the ministry will revise its package of amendments and submit it for approval to the Executive Yuan by the end of the year before sending it to the Legislative Yuan for review.
Before then, the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee is scheduled to review tomorrow 16 amendments proposed by various political parties.
A coalition of women’s rights groups — including the League of Taiwan Women — yesterday said that surrogacy is harmful to human rights, urging lawmakers to oppose its legalization.
The coalition added that it would hold protests tomorrow when the legislative committees begin reviewing the bill.
Taiwan Anti-Surrogate Pregnancy Action Group spokeswoman Chen Kai-ning (陳愷寧) said the nation should not commodify women’s wombs for the sake of procreation or boosting birthrates.
Women’s bodies are not reproductive tools and infants are not merchandise, she said.
Separately yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), who is also a fertility specialist, panned the ministry for dropping surrogacy from the proposed amendments to the act, saying the decision politicized a livelihood issue.
The bill had formerly enjoyed support from across the political divide for its potential to improve the lives of LGBTQ people, single women and women with womb disorders, she said, adding that lawmakers need to discuss the matter.
President William Lai (賴清德), Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chih-mai (陳其邁) 22 years ago cosponsored the first-ever bill to legalize surrogacy when they were lawmakers, she said.
The DPP caucus similarly supported a version of the act’s amendments that included legalizing surrogacy legalization in the previous legislative session, only to turn against it the day before, Chen said.
Criticism that surrogate pregnancy would commodify the womb stems from ideological and political manipulations that contravene the opinions of experts and medical professionals consulted in the law’s writing, she said.
Taiwanese women are having children at an increasingly older age, resulting in higher risks of complications that affect fertility, Chen Ching-hui said, adding that surrogacy could be an option for those who want, but cannot have children.
The nation that promulgated marriage equality in 2016 should do more to guarantee LGBTQ couples also enjoy the right to have children, she said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS