A Bill for an Act for the regulation of In Vitro Fertilization, (IVF), has passed second reading in the Senate.
Senator representing Kano North Senatorial District, Barau Jibrin, sponsored the first reading in April 2016.
Senator Jibrin said the Bill will help in the establishment of IVF Authority and make provision in relation to children born of the process.
“The principal objective of this bill is to ensure IVF is in our statute law. It is acknowledged that infertility affects a lot of women of child birth age and IVF is only a couple’s or individual’ chance, hence the need for a legal framework”.
The Senator noted that many women, who require In-Vitro Fertilization, meet Doctors who may not be qualified to undertake the procedure and as a result end up losing their life.
He mentioned that most of the Acts on Health do not cover IVF, emphasizing that the bill would help protect the identity, status and health of parents and children born of IVF.
“This Bill will strengthen the practice of Doctors in this area, as well as likely societal concerns before undergoing the procedure”.
Jibrin maintained that in spite of the absence of laws to protect those who practice IVF, Nigerians faced with reproductive challenges have continued to patronize practitioners in the field of medicine.
Some lawmakers, who supported the Bill, noted that it would help provide direction and checkmate quacks in the field.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, expressed hope that the Bill would protect those who undergo the process, as well as make IVF affordable. He thereafter referred the Bill to the Committee on Health to report back in a month’s time.
IVF treatment is the fertilization of an egg (or eggs) outside the body and this can be performed using your own eggs and sperm, or using either donated sperm or donated eggs, or both.
