The legislature’s Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau recently completed a study suggesting that lawmakers amend the Genetic Health Act (優生保健法) to allow married women to choose abortion without having to seek consent from their spouses.
As women have autonomy over their body, they should have the right to decide whether to have children, the report said.
The suggestion ran counter to the regulation in the Act that states that married women must obtain spousal consent before seeking abortion unless their spouse is unconscious or mentally ill.
The bureau, which offers consultation to legislators, also suggested that those who are married should be allowed to obtain a tubal ligation or a vasectomy without the agreement of their spouses, as required by law.
The report said lawmakers should also consider amending the Act to allow 18 and 19-year-old unmarried teenagers to have an abortion without having to obtain approval from their parents.
The report also said unmarried women under the age of 18 should also be allowed to decide whether to go through with an abortion as long as they understand the ramifications of their act.
Under the Act, unmarried women under the age of 20 must obtain permission from their parents to have an abortion.
In related developments, the legislature’s Secretariat said that the Asia-Pacific Parliamentarians Union’s annual convention would take place in Taiwan and begin tomorrow as scheduled.
The two-day convention marks the first time Taiwan hosts the event.
Parliamentarians attending the convention are scheduled to sign a joint communique after the summit, the secretariat said.
Delegates from 14 countries will arrive at Taiwan despite the damage caused of Typhoon Morakot, the secretariat said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS