CEM REPORT, HEALTH | Lagos State House of Assembly has defended the proposed Human Fertilisation and Surrogacy Regulatory Bill before the House.
The lawmakers say the bill is necessary considering the controversies and barrage of litigations associated with human fertilization and surrogacy-related matters in the state.
Speaking at the public hearing on the proposed bill the Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Health, Hon. Shokunle Hakeem said the proposed law is long overdue.
He added that the bill will provide if eventually passed into law would provide a legal framework to regulate the procedure and practice of surrogacy.
“The proposed law is long overdue in our system considering the series of controversies and litigations associated with human fertilization and surrogacy-related matters in our society.
“This bill under consideration if eventually passed into law would provide a legal framework to regulate the procedure and practice of surrogacy, monitor the procurement, processing, storage, distribution, and use of gametes and embryos in the state to prohibit commercial exploitation, and secondly, the proposed law would also ensure that the best interest and right of any child born out of surrogacy are protected in accordance with the provision of Child’s Right Law of Lagos State.”
Speaking at the public hearing, the Society of Fertility Reproductive Health demanded the inclusion of its members in the drafting of the bill.
Secretary of the association, Professor Oladapo Ashiru, lamented the non-inclusion of experts’ opinions in the proposed bill.
“The terminology used in the bill is wrong. We used Assisted Reproductive Technology. I feel sad that the bill was drafted without the input of the Society of Fertility Reproductive Health Experts. The bill cannot stand the test of time if passed into law. We have a whole document on Assisted Reproductive Technology, (ART). The committee should look at what exists in the state and improve on it. The present law, in its present form l, should be stepped down.”
