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Latest Surrogacy News
Children Born through
Artificial Insemination Speak up
Suvendrini
Kakuchi
IPS December 29, 2003
TOKYO, Dec 29 (IPS) - When Haru, a 22-year-old
graduate student, was told by her mother that she was
the product of artificial insemination, her world fell
apart.
''I was devastated to learn that my father was not my
biological parent,'' Haru (not her real name) writes in
one of Japan's numerous Internet sites on the subject.
''I stopped graduate school because I couldn't
concentrate on my studies. I couldn't sleep, and the
worst part was not being able to relate any more to the
man who I had called Dad till now.''
In another message on the same site, a 24 year-old man
writes, ''I felt deep hatred toward my parents when I
was told the truth. I felt cheated and lost. I believe,
as a child who was born after fertility treatment, that
it is my right to know my roots by being told who my
biological parents are.''
These sentiments represent the voices of offspring born
through artificial insemination donors or AIDs in Japan.
The law at present offers complete secrecy for donors to
such procedures. Sweden is one of the few countries that
allow children to right to know. In the United States,
the situation depends on state laws.
But the demands by these young Japanese adults, called
AID children, reflect difficult issues emerging in a
society that is increasingly dealing with high rates of
infertility by making available to childless couples
sophisticated reproduction technology.
One in five couples are reported to be seeking
infertility treatment in Japan, which has a birth rate
of slightly over one child per woman. In-vitro
fertilisation, where children are born from donated
sperm or fertilised eggs, is the most popular fertility
method.
But the joy of finally having a baby has been
accompanied by new problems that combine legal,
emotional, cultural and other issues.
''There is no easy answer to AID children,'' says
obstetrician Yasunori Yoshinori, an expert on
reproductive technology at Keio University. ''While I
agree that children have the right to know their
biological parents, the reality is such that disclosure
will only lead to huge problems.''
As it is, Yoshinori says, problems arise if and when a
donor decides to claim a child as his or hers. Other
complicated issues involve claims to inheritance, for
instance.
The Ministry of Health reports that AID births have been
reported since the mid-seventies in Japan. While
statistics record about 10,000 such children, the
numbers could be much higher.
''There is no correct record on the number of AID
children as laws now do not stipulate that parents and
doctors record such births. We contend the actual
numbers could be between 100 to 200 a year,'' says
Tomoko Kashiwage, a director in the infertility section
at the ministry.
A recent government-led study on the issue has also
centred on the psychological scars of AID children.
Experts are now supporting the passage of a law in 2004
that would allow children above 15 years the right to
the disclosure of personal details of donors of sperm
and eggs in their birth.
Ryoko Suzuki, a member of Finrage Association, a civic
group lobbying for a choice-based approach in treatments
for infertile women, agrees that Japan must move quickly
to ensure that children born through artificial
insemination have the right to learn about their donors.
''The welfare of the child must get top priority in the
ongoing debate,'' explains Suzuki. ''A child's identity
is based on its roots, which are his or her natural
parents.''
Proponents of this viewpoint say that the new law must
allow full disclosure when identifying the donor - this,
they say, is the only way AID children can be satisfied.
They point to surveys that indicate almost all children
face problems between mild confusion to deep depression
when they accidentally find out the truth about their
conception.
But parents who have resorted to artificial insemination
are adamantly opposed to disclosure. A survey conducted
by the government in October showed 97 percent of
couples saying that they are against informing their
children how they were conceived.
''The issue is particularly challenging in Japan, where
blood lineage is firmly entrenched in culture. As well,
sterility is a stigma in this country, which is why
infertile couples face a huge pressure to conceal
artificial insemination,'' explains Yoshinori.
Indeed, donor births are causing headaches for
authorities who are grappling with new definitions of
parent-child relationships, given national laws that
recognise biological parents as the legal fathers and
mothers.
Thus in Japan, a donor is considered the legal parent.
To get over this hurdle, couples acquire legal parentage
by following an official procedure where they must
recognise the birth of a child as their own.
Currently, the Justice Ministry is being taken to court
by a Japanese couple in their mid-fifties, whose twin
baby boys born in California to a surrogate mother last
year was refused Japanese citizenship because
nationality laws here do not recognise surrogacy.
''We want the whole parent-child relationship reviewed
in Japan,'' says Yasunao Kondo, the father of the
children.
Fertility experts warn that a new law that would force
parents to inform children of details of their
conception through reproductive technology could lead to
a drop in donors and thus badly damage chances for
infertile parents to have a child.
Against such a backdrop, experts are calling for a
thorough discussion aimed at informing the public better
about AID children and their right to disclosure.
''The issues of parent-child relationships, privacy and
discrimination against sterility must be openly
discussed before new laws are established,'' points out
Suzuki. ''The debate represents a totally new concept in
Japanese culture.''
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