The Child Welfare League Foundation has called for stricter laws to prevent the selling of babies, noting that at least 362 children have been sold in the past decade.
Current regulations aren't tough enough, the foundation said last week, adding that most of those convicted for baby-selling received light punishments and retained their medical licenses.
The foundation called for stricter punishments for violators of the Medical Treatment Law (
The foundation analyzed news stories about baby-selling cases from 1996 to this year and found that only 14 major cases had been solved by the police.
The amount of money exchanged in the cases was estimated to total NT$1.3 billion (US$39.4 million), with an average price of NT$360,000 per child, the foundation said at a press conference last week.
Baby boys cost more than baby girls because more people want boys, the foundation said.
Foundation chief executive officer Wang Yu-min (王育敏) said that based on her group's experience, pregnant minors usually give up their babies because of financial difficulties, career hopes or family disapproval.
"These children supply the baby-selling market," she said.
She said many of those involved in the sales were medical professionals because it was easy for them to issue fake birth certificates or guarantee the babies' health to buyers, Wang said.
"This attracts many couples who do not wish to reveal a child's true identity even though they have paid high prices for them. [That is why] the sellers usually revert to their previous employment after leaving prison," she said.
The foundation said 91.9 percent of the cases it reviewed occured in Taipei.
The anonymity and convenience of the Internet might make it a new channel for selling children, the foundation warned.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS