Same-sex couples in Rwandan are seeking to become parents by deputy or in vitro fertilization, which are excluded under a new bill passed by lawmakers.
The Healthcare Services Bill, passed on August 4, also allows 15-year-old children to access birth control pills to tackle the rise in teenage pregnancy. His legal age was previously 18 years old.
Moving to same-sex couples is prohibited from becoming parents using agent or in vitro fertilization.
The Parliamentary Committee on Social Issues, chaired by Veneranda Uwamariya, has notified the amendment as it has failed to clearly state who should access the art services after establishing the original bill.
The passing laws that President Paul Kagame must sign before execution define the arts, including surrogacy, as third-party reproductive agreements in which the surrogacy mother carries and delivers children for other people or couples with birth and conception problems.
“After discussion and consultation with government representatives, members of the committee agreed that once the doctor confirmed this condition, ART services should be available not only to married couples but also to other individuals who cannot conceive naturally,” Uwamariya said.
The original bill stated that art services are aimed at couples who are struggling to get pregnant, but also said that another provision contradicts itself and limits the service to medical service users who cannot naturally conceive.
Section 69 of the bill also restricted access to art services to infertile or fertile couples, and restricted the donation of gametes or embryos that restricted Article 73 to up to three couples.
The law requires the government to establish an oversight committee appointed by the Ministry of Health to monitor the provision of ART services to ensure full compliance with ethical standards. The age limit for agents is 21 to 40 years old.
Rwandan law does not criminalize homosexuality.
The government viewed same-sex relationships as “private issues” and ratified international law protecting LGBTQ rights amid homophobic discrimination and stigma.
Despite the government’s protection of strange rights, the Rwandan Constitution only allows marriage between people of the opposite sex. New surrogacy measures lock out same-sex couples from parent-child relationships.
Within a parliamentary committee, some lawmakers, such as Glorios Mukhamwitha, have requested access to surrogacy services permitted to individuals who want a child, regardless of infertility, due to social factors such as personal choices.
“In general, what we’re saying when it comes to supporting reproductive technology is that anyone with biological problems that don’t allow them to conceive naturally would be allowed to benefit from the services offered,” Butera argued in her response.
He further stated that infertility is not limited to the natural condition in which individuals access ART services, but also applies to those affected by treatments such as chemotherapy, which affect the fertility of both men and women.
Butera’s position does not benefit same-sex couples either, limiting surrogacy only to individuals with biological infertility rather than biological infertility. However, this exclusion has sparked debate on several Rwandans, especially on social media. It concerns the need for legislation to reflect fairness, discrimination, and the changing world’s current family structure and parenting dynamics.
This provision was notified by concerns from lawmakers and health care institutions, as in some developed countries, demanding a loophole, for the exploitation of some business practices and poor young women, as sealed in the bill, to some business practices and the exploitation of poor young women.
For months, the Superior Court in September 2020 pursued legal approval for having children through children through attempts to make children natural, and in vitro fertilization urged Rwandan lawmakers to enact the first proxy.
The ruling overturned a lower court decision that prevented the couple from obtaining children from an aspiring surrogate after doctors demanded legal approval before proceeding with medical procedures. While blocking proceedings, the lower courts allowed or received assistance in the law only for births between men and women, but not between the two families requested by the petitioner.
By enacting surrogacy laws that block same-sex couples from parent-child relationships, Rwanda joins two neighbouring countries, Kenya and Uganda. They have similar measures called the “Reproductive Technology Support Bill,” but the law is still pending before the respective legislative health committees.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
