A project team of the Liberal Democratic Party has recently compiled a
bill on assisted reproductive technologies. It would not only allow
donations of sperm and ova from third parties for the purpose of having
babies but also conditionally allow surrogate births.
The team hopes to submit the bill to the Diet in the current session,
but its prospect is unclear because the LDP is considering other
legislation that bans surrogate births in light of the lingering
opposition within the party to such births.
Assisted reproductive technologies involve sensitive ethical and
legal issues. The LDP team’s draft legislation, put together by
lawmakers behind closed doors, failed to address some of those issues,
leaving them up for future discussion. Informed public discussions on
the issue are indispensable.
Japan currently has no law that regulates surrogate births. The
relevant panel of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry as well as the
Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology have opposed surrogate births
on the grounds that “people should not be used as a means of
reproduction.” However, a maternity doctor in Nagano Prefecture is known
to have handled more than a dozen surrogate births, while a much larger
number of Japanese couples are believed to have had children through
surrogate birth arrangements overseas.
The LDP team’s bill would allow an arrangement in which a third-party
surrogate carries a fetus to term for the intended parents if the woman
cannot become pregnant because of surgical operations or the congenital
absence of the uterus.
Surrogate birth imposes a great burden on the surrogate mother. The
bill does not specify who would be qualified to become surrogate mothers
and what protections to afford them. Surrogacy could involve other
problems. A surrogate mother might develop a strong affection for the
baby and refuse to give it up to the intended parents. Or intended
parents might refuse to accept a child born to a surrogate mother if it
has a serious disease or birth defect.
From the viewpoint of people who wish to resort to surrogacy to have
children, the bill leaves key questions unanswered. It states that the
woman who gives birth in a surrogacy arrangement should be recognized as
the mother. The LDP team says it will consider — in the future — a
scheme to establish a legal parent-child relationship between a child
born to a surrogate mother and the intended parents. The absence of such
a scheme would discourage many couples who want but cannot have babies
from seeking surrogacy.
The bill would also allow donation of sperm or ova either for
artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. Sperm or ova must be
donated by unidentified third parties. But the LDP team has postponed
discussion on whether children born this way have the right to know
their biological father or mother. There have been cases in which such
children have developed a strong desire to find their biological parents
and suffer emotionally. Donors of sperm or ova can also suffer
psychologically if they are contacted by their biological children.
Japan needs a legal framework on assisted reproductive technologies.
But hasty legislation with holes will cause confusion as various
problems are inherent to the technologies. The government and lawmakers
need to study potential problems and listen to opinions from wide
sectors of society.
Couples who want but cannot have children also should remember that adoption could also be an option.
Mumbai (Bombay) Time