Hong Kong law prevents single women and unmarried couples from using
assisted reproductive technology. It’s a restriction that’s being called
outdated and discriminatory, writes Nan-hie In.
More that 30 years ago, in an experimental procedure called in vitro
fertilisation (IVF), doctors joined a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm in a
glass dish in a laboratory. Nine months later, in July 1978, the first
test-tube baby was born. These days, IVF is just one of several options
for assisted reproductive technology to help women have a baby.
Despite advances in fertility treatments, heaven forbid you’re a
single woman in Hong Kong because, until you legally marry a man, you’re
not entitled to make use of that technology.
The Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance, passed in 1997, dictates
that fertility treatment in Hong Kong can only be offered to
heterosexual married couples. But that legislation could possibly change
as the Equal Opportunities Commission is in the midst of completing a
public consultation on the review of discrimination law.
Of the 77-question consultation form that covered sex, family status,
disability and race, question number 71 asked: “Do you think that the
Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance should be amended to remove a
requirement that a person is married to be provided with IVF treatment;
and the exception in the Sexual Discrimination Ordinance relating to
reproductive technology should then be repealed?”
1.28 Hong Kong’s birthrate per woman is one of the lowest in the world
The three-month public consultation exercise was completed on October 31.
More than 100,000 submissions were received, including a number
jointly-signed by groups of people. The commission says it will
carefully analyse the opinions received with a view to submitting a
detailed report with recommendations to the government by the second
half of 2015.
Until changes to legislation regarding reproductive technology are
made, non-married individuals in Hong Kong have been venturing abroad to
get these reproductive procedures in countries such as Thailand, Taiwan
and the US, where fertility laws do not prohibit non-married
individuals.
Perhaps the most famous incident happened in 2010, when a photo of
Henderson Land property tycoon Lee Shau-kee holding triplets by his
bachelor son, Peter Lee Ka-kit, which prompted much media attention as
the children were born via a gestational carrier in the US.
Dr Louis
Chan Yik-si of the Hong Kong Reproductive Medical Centre says that upon
discovering this legal impediment, some cohabiting couples dash to the
altar.
“these long-time couples come in for help and I have to tell them,
‘We cannot do anything for you’,” says Chan. “They’ll come back a week
later saying, ‘We just got married three days ago’.”
Winnie Chow, partner and collaborative practitioner at Hampton,
Winter and Glynn, says the law is entirely outdated and not in line with
societal views.
“The law seems to imply that being married immediately makes you a
better parent. I always thought the true test is on the individual,” she
says.
The ordinance was drafted in the late 1980s – when the median age of
first marriages was 28.3 for men and 25.6 for women – and passed in 1997
after public consultations. In 2001, the Council of Reproductive
Technology was established to police the provision of reproductive
procedures.
Little about the ordinance has changed since. Meanwhile, the city has
one of the lowest birth rates in the world at 1.28 children per woman
of child-bearing age. A census report in 2012 found the average age in
Hong Kong that women got married (for the first time) was 30.5 years,
and 31.1 years for men. Women are having children later. The median for
the first childbirth at 30.5 years old.
Fertility issues arise as women have children later. Chan explains
the time – sensitive nature of a woman’s fertility window: by age 37,
more than j90 per cent of a woman’s eggs would have died; a woman over
40 has a miscarriage rate of around 50 per cent compared to 15 per cent
for a woman 30 or below.
Advances in fertility technology have been able to manipulate the
fertility window; for example, in oocyte cryopreservation, where a
woman’s unfertilized eggs are stored in ice (ideally, it has been
extracted during her prime) so it can be used later.
In Hong Kong, however, while non-married individuals can have their
eggs or sperm frozen for future use, clinics can’t impregnate patients
with those eggs unless the woman is married – plus she has a prove
there’s an infertility issue to use these procedures.
Chow says the ordinance is stuck at societal norms and the technology of decades ago.
“We’re much more open minded [now], we’re less conservative as single
parent families are more prevalent and so are same-sex relationships.
Even our Adoption Ordinance is more open-minded now as it allows single
parent adoption.”
She finds the ordinance’s restrictions “discriminatory” and lists
various legislations it potentially violates. That includes Article 1 of
the Bill of Rights which states that men and women should have equal
right to enjoyment of all civil political rights set forth in this bill,
and the rights to recognize in this bill shall be enjoyed without
distinction of any kind, such as race, color… and “other status”...
Reference: South China Morning Post
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