Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said he would seek to “gauge public opinion” on assisted suicide and surrogacy, despite “personally” supporting legalization.
At a news conference in Taipei, Ko said that he “could not think of any reasons to oppose” legalizing the two practices based on his experiences as a medical professional, which include serving as director of the National Taiwan University Hospital emergency room and the hospital’s Department of Traumatology.
Asked by reporters if this meant the legalization of euthanasia and surrogacy — pregnancy by artificial insemination and carrying another person’s baby — was a part of his election platform, Ko stopped short of officially endorsing the two policies, stating only that he would seek to “gauge public opinion.”
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
When pressed further on the issue — and opposition from religious and human rights groups, in particular — Ko said legalization would be his “direction,” adding that he would “try to persuade the opponents” of euthanasia and surrogacy.
Chen Chao-tzu (陳昭姿), a former head of the pro-independence Taiwan Society and long-time advocate of surrogacy, told the news conference she had been pushing for the legislation of surrogacy since 1996.
The surrogacy advocate claimed that a clique in the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of Gender Equality had continually blocked bills to legalize the practice, resulting in reform languishing in the legislature for almost 30 years.
Chen said that this small group of self-appointed “feminists” opposes surrogacy to use women as “tools.”
Surrogacy has also met with the objection of children welfare advocacy groups that champion adoption, Chen added.
Chen asked why the government encourages couples to have children amid the country’s low birthrate, but has ignored couples who would do anything to have their own children through surrogacy.
In 2004, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), then-health minister, held the first-ever “civic conference” in Taiwan to discuss surrogacy and arrived at the consensus to “not prohibit surrogacy, but only permit it with conditions,” Chen Chao-tzu said.
Chen Chien-jen told her then that she could “expect progress” in six months, a promise that has to date been unfulfilled, she said, calling on Chen Chien-jen to launch a new initiative to legalize surrogacy in his more prominent role as premier.
Chen Chao-tzu told Ko that she would support Ko in the presidential election as long as Ko would include legalizing surrogacy as a component of his healthcare platform.
When reporters asked Ko whether Chen Chao-tzu’s appearance at his news conference meant she had “ditched” Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the DPP’s presidential candidate, in favor of himself, Ko said that people should not jump to conclusions and that there was no need to “politicize everything.”
Ko said that he and Chen Chao-tzu had known each other for many years and that she recruited him to be the convener of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) medical team, for which Chen Chao-tzu was the spokesperson.
It was due to this experience that he had the opportunity to campaign for and be elected Taipei mayor, Ko said.
‘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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS