Recently, the news about an influencer’s pregnancy has stirred widespread discussion.
In fact, when two people truly love each other, wanting to have a child together is natural and understandable.
Looking deeper into this issue, the main point is that after the legalization of same-sex marriage, many supporting measures have not yet caught up. Regulations related to reproductive medicine, such as sperm donation, egg donation, and even surrogacy, have not been updated accordingly. As a result, some same-sex couples who wish to have children have no choice but to travel overseas to countries where assisted reproductive regulations are more flexible.
In fact, there was another piece of information before the New Year that many people may not have noticed. In 2018, there were 181,601 newborns in Taiwan, and among them, 10,236 were conceived through IVF. This means that approximately 1 in every 18 newborns in Taiwan was born through assisted reproductive technology, which is certainly not a low proportion.
In 2020, however, the total number of newborns in Taiwan was only 165,429, the lowest in history. Taiwan also experienced negative population growth for the first time.
These news stories and figures show that Taiwan has already become an aging society with negative population growth. At the same time, seeking help from assisted reproductive technology to have children is gradually becoming more common. This is something worth reflecting on.
Taiwan’s assisted reproductive technology continues to advance. We also hope that the related laws and regulations can keep pace with the times and benefit more people in need.
