•Bill wants sperm, egg donors to disclose confidential information.
•However, men and women will have no rights to the child or children born from their donations.
Image: FILE
Have you ever thought of offering your sperm or eggs to childless couples for free?
Such a good deed could soon be possible.
Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika has introduced a Bill that would allow childless couples to obtain sperm and ova absolutely free.
Procedures, however, are not free and can be long and expensive.
There's more.
Men and women donors would be required to disclose confidential information: full names, ethnicities, medical histories, physical characteristics, professions, hobbies and so on when they visit a clinic to make a donation.
Donors would have no claim to any child born from their donations.
The Reproductive Healthcare Bill, 2019 states that anyone donating gametes (male or female germ cells) for In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) shall make full disclosure about himself or herself to the health care provider.
IVF is the process by which an egg is fertilised by a sperm outside the body.
The fields of in vitro-fertilisation and surrogacy are largely unregulated. The proposed law is silent on whether couples must be married; it is silent on gay couples or singles. It says nothing about a child's right to know its biological parents when he or she reaches age 18.
"A gamete provider shall not receive any form of compensation for the use of their donated gamete,” the Bill reads.
Donors will have no parental responsibilities for or rights over the child born out of the use of his or her gametes.
The Bill seeks to address issues involving surrounding surrogacy, including the donation of sperm and ova.
It states that the donor shall not acquire parenthood. The commissioning parents shall be named as parents of the child in the birth notification or certificate.
A surrogate mother shall not benefit from any reward or compensation, other than those relating directly to the process of insemination and pregnancy, birth, post-natal and post-delivery complications.
“A child born pursuant to a surrogate parenthood agreement shall not, for the purposes of the Succession Act, be deemed to be a beneficiary of the surrogate mother or spouse or relative of the surrogate mother,” the Bill reads.
Compensation will be limited to loss of earnings suffered by the surrogate mother as a result of the surrogacy and insurance cover for her.
Two similar bills have been previously introduced in Parliament. Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo has sponsored a bill mirroring Kihika’s in the National Assembly.
Another bill was also previously tabled in the National Assembly but was voted down by the Senate.
The Bill, which already has been introduced in the Senate for the First Reading, will govern how assisted reproduction is performed, who performs it, in which facilities and under which environments.
It will address a legal issue that has hobbled cases in court. In one case, a couple approached a woman who initially agreed to be a surrogate mother, but later turned around and claimed the child.
The proposed law stipulates that the assisted reproduction services shall be offered in a registered facility by a qualified health officer licensed by a regulator.
The health officer shall not carry out IVF unless the gamete provider has submitted consent and has been medically examined.
“An assisted reproduction health care provider shall not provide any treatment or perform any procedure relating to assisted reproduction unless that provider has sought and obtained the written consent of the person seeking such services,” it reads.
Kihika states in the Bill that parent (s) commissioning surrogate parenthood shall be at least 21 years of age and not more than 50 years old. They must also accept the parenthood of the child that is to be conceived.
To be a surrogate mother, one must be at least 25 years old.
The two parties entering into surrogate parenthood must also sign a consent agreement, clearly stipulating how the child will be born will be brought up in the event of the death of the commissioning parent(s).
“A surrogate parenthood agreement is valid if it is in writing and signed by all the parties thereto,” the Bill reads.
The Bill also stipulates that a surrogate parenthood agreement may be terminated automatically, after the delivery of the child or before the implantation of a fertilised embryo in the surrogate mother's uterus.
“Where the commissioning parent or commissioning parents have reason to believe that the child born is not the child contemplated under the surrogate parenthood agreement, the commissioning parent or commissioning parents may apply for the conduct of a DNA test on the child,” it states.
The further states that every person shall have access to reproductive health services and gives the county and national government the responsibility to provide the services.
“The National Government shall put in place the necessary mechanisms and infrastructure to facilitate access to the highest attainable standard and quality of ante-natal, neo-natal and post-natal services in national referral hospitals,” it states.
Counties will implement the national policy and strategies on reproductive health including the referral mechanism for diagnosis and treatment of reproductive health-related complications.
“The counties will allocate, in the county budget, the funds necessary for the provision of reproductive health care in the county health system including finances required to hire adequate personnel,” the Bill reads.
(Edited by V. Graham)