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.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
RSS