Legislation on Assisted Reproductive Technology Delayed in Japan

From Jiji

August 13 2023

TOKYO – Work in Japan on developing a legal framework for assisted reproductive technology, in which a child is born using the sperm or egg from a third person, has failed to make substantive progress.

In the current situation, the right of children born through fertility treatment to know their biological parents is not guaranteed, making in-vitro fertilization using a third person’s sperm or egg is effectively impossible.

While efforts to reach a consensus have hit a snag over issues such as who should be eligible for assisted reproductive technology and whether surrogate birth should be allowed, there have been growing calls for early the establishment of related legislation.

A special law related to the Civil Code stipulating parental relationships for children born through assisted reproductive technology was enacted in December 2020. But details, including guaranteeing such children’s right to know their fathers or mothers and regulating the intermediation for sperm and egg donation were pushed back.

A supplementary provision to the special law states that legal steps would be taken in about two years over these issues. A suprapartisan group of lawmakers that led discussions on the matters had aimed to craft a necessary legal framework during an extraordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, in autumn 2022.