Single men have a chance to raise children from surrogate mothers if a new proposal by the World Health Organization (WHO) is ratified.
The proposed amendments to the current definition of infertility to include ‘singles’ seek to give every person who desires a family the right to have a child regardless of whether they have health challenges that cause infertility or just do not have or want a partner to sire a child with.
As reported by The Daily Telegraph, this means a single man or woman, a gay couple, heterosexual men and women will all be able to seek the services of a surrogate mother or in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) if the proposal becomes law.
Infertility will also encompass relationships that cannot result in an offspring, mainly the gay community, according to the new definition.
This means by virtue of being single, one is categorised as a disabled person on grounds of infertility as one does not have a partner to sire a child with.
But John Ong’ech, a reproductive specialist, said Kenya was not necessarily obligated to adopt everything WHO comes up with. “We issue IVF and propose surrogacy according to couples’ needs in relation to their infertility challenges,” said Dr Ong’ech.
He said such radical proposals required legislation changes that involve all stakeholders including religious leaders.
