Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo has introduced amendments to the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill 2022, which is currently under review by the relevant committee.
The Bill seeks to establish comprehensive guidelines to regulate surrogacy and other aspects of assisted reproductive technology.
Surrogacy involves a woman carrying and delivering a baby for a couple or individual. Assisted reproductive technology includes medical procedures like in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection, cryopreservation of gametes or embryos, and the use of fertility medications. These procedures are primarily used to address infertility issues.
The proposed amendments aim to introduce stricter measures to prevent the financial exploitation by women who may seek to become “career” surrogates.
The law, if passed, will limit women to becoming surrogate mothers no more than three times in their lifetime. Additionally, women will need to wait two years between each surrogacy before entering into another agreement.
The amendments also impose limits on men who wish to donate sperm and women looking to donate embryos to assist infertile couples. The proposal states that neither men nor women can donate sperm or embryos more than 10 times.
The Bill reads, “A person shall not perform a treatment procedure using gametes or an embryo produced by a donor if such procedure may result in more than 10 children who are genetic siblings.”
The draft Bill further stipulates that anyone seeking ART services must obtain approval from a doctor who specializes in the field. These doctors will be regulated under the new proposals, ensuring they do not store or use anything other than human embryos, nor can they place human embryos in animals or transfer them into women unless the embryos are human.
The proposals also place restrictions on how medical practitioners use human embryos. They are prohibited from using embryos in ways that violate the law, replacing parts of a human embryo with cells from another person or embryo, or making any modifications to an embryo unless necessary for medical reasons. Furthermore, medical practitioners will be banned from engaging in any form of human cloning.
The Bill also specifies that a man whose sperm is used in assisted reproductive technology should not automatically be considered the father of the child unless the mother was married to him at the time of his death and he had consented to parentage.
Violating these provisions will result in criminal penalties, including a fine of up to Ksh5 million, a prison sentence of up to five years, or both.
The Health Committee has proposed the establishment of cryo-banks—specialized assisted reproductive clinics that will only store sperm from men aged 21 to 35 and eggs (oocytes) from women aged 23 to 35.
Additionally, ART professionals will be required to obtain prior informed, written consent from all parties involved in the reproductive process.
The proposals also specify that the consent form should address how to manage gametes or embryos in cases of death, incapacity, abandonment, disputes, divorce, or separation of any of the parties seeking ART services. This is to ensure transparency and clarity in all assisted reproductive procedures.
The proposed amendments place the responsibility on the Cabinet Secretary to establish regulations regarding the discretionary and permitted payments under a surrogacy agreement. These regulations will determine the maximum sum for discretionary costs based on principles of affordability, the non-exploitation of the surrogate, and the non-exploitation of the intended parents.
The approved costs will cover medical care and legal fees related to surrogacy. Other permissible expenses include those for the surrogate’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being, such as counseling, physiotherapy, antenatal classes, fitness classes, and maternity clothing.
Additionally, costs will include those arising from increased food prices due to the surrogate’s pregnancy or her participation in the surrogacy agreement. They will also cover expenses related to securing help for daily household tasks that the surrogate is unable to perform because of her pregnancy or the surrogacy agreement.
Furthermore, the costs of compensating for any lost earnings resulting from the surrogate’s involvement in the agreement will be permitted.
