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Latest Surrogacy News
Japan's first surrogate mother
gives birth
Skali Date : May
19, 2001
A woman believed to be
Japan's first surrogate mother has given birth for her
sterile sister, defying opposition from the authorities who
are planning to ban such arrangements.
The baby was born at Suwa
Maternity Clinic in Shimosuwa Town, about 150 kilometres (93
miles) northwest of Tokyo.
"The baby was born in good
health this spring," gynecologist Yahiro Netsu told a news
conference at his clinic.
The genetic mother of the
baby could not give birth because her womb had been
surgically removed. Netsu took an egg from her, fertilised
it with her husband's sperm, then transplanted it into the
womb of the woman's younger sister who had volunteered to be
a surrogate.
Justifying his action, the
doctor said all those involved had been willing participants
in the arrangement.
"It is against humanity to
ignore the affection between the sisters."
The sex of the baby and
other details were not released.
The first known surrogate
birth in Japan came in the wake of a report by a health
ministry panel in December which recommended legislation to
prohibit women from acting as surrogate mothers. There is
currently no law on the issue.
The panel concluded that
surrogacy carried too high a risk for the welfare of the
women who act as surrogates and for the children born into a
complicated family situation.
The health ministry report
also highlighted possible medical risks and the possibility
of legal battles over custody. Its recommendations are
expected to be translated into a legal ban in the next few
years.
According to Japanese media
reports, Japanese couples who are unable to have children
themselves are already travelling to the United States to
find women willing to act as surrogates in return for a fee.
A broker quoted by the
Yomiuri daily estimated the average cost of such
arrangements, including medical and travel expenses, at ten
million yen (81,300 dollars) per baby.
Britain also allows couples
to use surrogate mothers but the practice is banned in
France and Germany.
It was not the first time
Netsu had implanted a fertilised egg into a surrogate mother
but his previous patients had all miscarried, he said.
The doctor is a
high-profile gynecologist well known among sterile couples.
He was expelled by the
Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology in August 1998
for carrying out in vitro fertilisation procedures for
non-married couples, against the society's rules.
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