Address surrogacy separately from sperm & egg donation: Activists

Taipei, Feb. 21 (CNA) Women's rights groups have urged the government to address single women and lesbian couples' access to sperm and egg donation separately from surrogacy when amending the Assisted Reproduction Act.

At a press conference Wednesday, Taiwan Women's Link director Huang Shu-ing (黃淑英) said her organization, along with 26 other groups in the fields of women's rights, gender, labor and medicine, were calling on the government to give single women and lesbian couples access to assisted reproduction services already available to heterosexual couples.

As surrogacy is far more complicated than simply giving single women and lesbian couples access to sperm and egg donation, discussing both issues together would delay the amendment, Huang said.

A joint statement issued by the 27 groups Tuesday also called for protecting single women and lesbian couples' right to access sperm and egg donation services.

At the time of its introduction in 2008, the Assisted Reproduction Act was aimed at helping heterosexual couples with fertility problems, the statement said.

However, the statement added, Taiwanese society has changed a lot over the last decade, so the regulations should not prevent other groups from accessing services already available to heterosexual couples.

While surrogacy -- which is currently not legal in Taiwan -- is often bundled together with sperm and egg donation when discussing amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act, the two are fundamentally different issues, the statement said.

The statement added that discussions on whether to legalize surrogacy relate to the rights and lives of surrogate mothers, intended parents and the children, and how to build parent-child relationships.

Although surrogacy is also part of assisted reproductive rights, the debates surrounding the issue are not related to the service itself, but ethical and moral ones, the groups said.

In comparison, amending the Assisted Reproduction Act to give single women and lesbian couples access to sperm and egg donation is significantly less complicated and controversial, according to the groups.

If the government keeps combining the two issues, the amendment's passing will be delayed, the statement said.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare will hold the first public hearing regarding amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act on Feb. 27.