Peng Jing, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: Appropriately relax the restrictions on assisted reproduction and protect the reproductive rights of single women

Nandu News Reporter Feng Qunxing In December 2019, the country's first general personality rights dispute case caused by "frozen eggs" was publicly tried at the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing, and the issue of single women's reproductive rights once again appeared in the public eye.

This issue also attracted the attention of Peng Jing, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the chief lawyer of Chongqing Jingsheng Law Firm. At this year's two sessions, she has long been concerned about the rights and interests of women and children, and submitted a proposal on guaranteeing women's equal reproductive rights.

Peng Jing, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief lawyer of Chongqing Jingsheng Law Firm. Courtesy of respondents.

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The current regulations are contrary to the principle of equality between men and women and social trends

China's current "Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Specification" was formulated by the former Ministry of Health in 2001 and revised in 2003. It stipulates that "the implementation of human assisted reproductive technologies is prohibited for couples and single women who do not comply with the provisions of the National Population and Family Planning Statutes and Regulations".

In the "First Egg Freezing Case in China" in December last year, the defendant hospital rejected the plaintiff's female egg freezing request mainly based on this provision.

In Peng Jing's view, assisted reproductive technologies such as "egg freezing" can only be exercised by married couples, which has brought many problems.

The first is a violation of the legal principle of equality between men and women. Peng Jing said: Articles 2 and 36 of China's Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests clearly stipulate that equality between men and women is a basic national policy, and women enjoy equal personal rights with men. However, according to the Basic Standards and Technical Specifications for Human Sperm Banks, men in our country, whether married or not, can apply for semen preservation based on the purposes of "reproductive health care" or "sperm preservation for future fertility". Single women cannot implement human assisted reproductive technologies such as "egg freezing". As a result, there is an objective inequality in the reproductive rights of men and women, resulting in gender discrimination.

In addition, Peng Jing believes that from the perspective of reality, banning single women from using assisted reproductive technology is no longer in line with the trend of social development.

She said that on the one hand, the status of women in the economy and society is constantly improving, most of the working women have to balance career and family, and the number of women who cannot give birth at the optimal age is increasing. Depriving them of their right to assisted reproductive technologies is likely to deprive them of reproductive opportunities. On the other hand, some single women with fertility intentions will risk choosing some unqualified "underground" institutions, or carry out assisted reproductive technology measures in overseas medical institutions, which increases the risk of illegal medical practice in disguise.

Eligible single women may be allowed to use assisted reproductive technologies

At this year's two sessions, Peng Jing submitted to the Conference the "Proposal on Granting Single Women the Right to Implement Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Effectively Protecting Women's Equal Reproductive Rights".

She suggested, first, that the revision of the relevant legal system be initiated at an appropriate time. In order to change the low level of the existing legal system, it is proposed that the National People's Congress or the State Council take the lead in formulating a special "Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Implementation Law" or "Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Implementation Regulations", while allowing married couples and single women who meet specific technical conditions to implement artificial assisted reproductive technology, giving women equal reproductive opportunities.

Second, improve the scope of application of maternity rights protection. Amend the provisions in the current "Specifications on Human Assisted Reproductive Technologies" that only "couples" have the right to undergo artificial reproduction, delete "infertile couples" in the "Informed Consent Form" and "Consent to Multiple Pregnancy Reduction Surgery" on reproductive rights and interests, and replace it with "couple or non-marital woman"; delete the "ID card of infertile couples, marriage certificate" and "marriage certificate" in the relevant supporting documents and replace it with "id card of couple or non-marital woman".

Third, strengthen the guarantee of human assisted reproductive technology. In order to prevent side effects or other risks of artificial assisted reproductive technologies such as "egg freezing", it is recommended that the health department cooperate with experts from hospitals and relevant scientific research institutes to conduct systematic research to continuously improve human assisted reproductive technology and effectively prevent technical risks.

Fourth, improve the supporting measures for single women's reproductive rights. In view of the problems faced by single women in the implementation of the reproductive rights protection, such as the settlement of children and school enrollment, it is recommended that the relevant functional departments such as civil affairs and education accelerate the research and formulation of supporting measures for human assisted reproductive technology, break the reproductive discrimination against single women, and further promote social equality.