The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) yesterday said that women who are planning to go overseas to donate egg cells should first understand the relevant laws in their destination country so that they do not unknowingly contravene local laws.
Many people are getting married or trying to have a baby later in life, and couples who are older or have health conditions such as infertility might need assisted reproductive technology to conceive, the HPA said in a statement yesterday.
Sometimes, couples might also need donated sperm or an egg for in vitro fertilization, it said.
Photo: Taipei Times file
There are many egg donation advertisements posted online, including ones that invite potential donors to travel abroad for an egg donation and a “nutrition subsidy,” Health Promotion Administration Maternal and Child Health Division deputy director Tsai Wei-yi (蔡維誼) said.
However, these ads do not mention whether egg donation for commercial purposes is legal in those countries, which might lead to people to unknowingly contravening local laws, he said.
For example, China prohibits any organization or individual from recruiting human egg donors for commercial purposes, so it would be illegal to travel to China for paid egg donation, Tsai said.
People who travel to the US to donate their eggs need to have a medical visa to receive treatment, so engaging in egg donation on a tourist visa would also be viewed as contravening the law, he said.
In Taiwan, donors must also donate without compensation, Tsai said, citing the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法).
However, considering that the donor must undergo certain testing and medical procedures — especially egg donors, who need to receive ovarian stimulation injections, take fertility drugs and go through an invasive egg retrieval procedure — the infertile couple can give the assisted reproduction institution a nutrition fee or supplements to be given to the egg donor, he said.
The couple can also pay for the donor’s medical and transportation fees, but the total amount of nutrition supplements and other fees should be no more than NT$99,000 (US$3,012), Tsai added.
Therefore, people who place ads to encourage others to donate eggs overseas and earn a high nutrition subsidy have contravened Article 31 of the act and might face penalties, the HPA said.
Article 31 stipulates that those who engage in the selling or brokering of reproductive cells or embryos for profit can face imprisonment for up to two years, detention or fined NT$200,000 to NT$1 million.
There are also risks of allergic reactions to ovarian simulation injections, fertility drugs or anesthetics for the egg retrieval procedure, so egg donors should consult with a doctor to know the risks before agreeing to a donation, the HPA said.
Additional reporting by CNA
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS