Bill To Donate Gametes To Childless Couples Free Of Charge Tabled

Donation of ova and sperms is soon going to be a lot easier if a Bill that has been proposed by Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika is passed.

In the Bill, it is proposed that donation is made free for childless couples, even though the procedure remains a bit costly.

For one to be a donor, they must not claim the child after they have donated their sperm or ova and must be willing to disclose certain things about themselves to the health care providers, just as the Bill states, ‘anyone donating gametes (male or female germ cells) for In-vitro Fertilization (IVF) shall make full disclosure about himself or herself to the health care provider.’

The Reproductive Healthcare Bill, 2019 further states that a gamete (male or female germ cell) provider shall not have responsibility or rights over the child that will be born out of their donation.

Further, the donor should not expect any compensation apart from what they will directly get during the process of insemination, pregnancy, childbirth, post-natal and post-delivery complications.

The Reproductive Health Bill, 2019, proposed by Nakuru Senator, Kihika, seeks to govern surrogacy, its procedures, facilities from which such services can be offered, certified specialists who will do the procedure and the environment under which the procedure can be done.

According to the law tabled to the senate, only registered facilities and healthcare providers will be allowed to conduct the procedure, only after the donor has given consent.

It will also be compulsory for the donor to undergo a thorough medical examination after they have given consent.

Surrogate mothers according to the Bill will be required to have attained 25 years of age by the time of surrogacy.

For the commissioning parents of the child to be born through assisted reproduction, they have to be at least 21 years of age and not more than 50 years old and accept parental responsibilities over the child once it is born.

Both the surrogate parents and the commissioning parents will have a written and signed agreement that both parties accept the procedure, and even discuss the way the child will be brought up in the event the commissioning parents die.

The Bill also provides for a chance to have a DNA test conducted should the commissioning parents feel like the child born out of surrogacy is not theirs.

The law charges the national and county governments with the mandate of providing quality reproductive health services, including ante-natal, neo-natal and post-natal services.

“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,” states the Bill.

The Reproductive Health Bill 2019 has already been tabled for the first hearing at the Senate House.