National Assembly : MPs Receive Medically Assisted Reproduction Bill

A bill relating to medically assisted reproduction (MAR) in Cameroon has been tabled before Members of the National Assembly for scrutiny. House Speaker, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril chaired the Chairman’s Conference where the bill was judged admissible and Deputy Speaker, Kombo Gberi, presided at the plenary sitting where the legal document was tabled on June 23, 2022.
In essence, medically assisted reproduction which has been practiced in Cameroon for many years, has gained impetus with the Hospital Centre for Endoscopic Surgery and Human Reproduction Research and Application (CHRACERH), established by a presidential decree of October 13, 2011. Despite the advancements made, it has been observed that there is no legal framework governing the activity. The proposed legal framework seeks to provide a legal response to the strong desire for parenthood from married or unmarried couples, as well as a normative framework in terms of rules and procedures to be observed by sector practitioners. 
Comprised of sixty-five sections divided into ten chapters, the bill provides public authorities with a suitable sector control and regulatory tool. “In this regard, the bill allows persons seeking MAR to realise their parenthood plans under appropriate legal protection and provides hospitals conducting or seeking to conduct MAR with a legal framework governing their activities,” partly reads the draft instrument. The respect for the life and dignity of the human person, confidentiality and safety of data and information collected, compliance with bioethical and deontological rules, are some of the principles the bill obliges. The interests of the unborn child ar...