On the afternoon of November 10, continuing the 10th session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Population Law; the draft Law on Disease Prevention.
Commenting on the Population Law, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi National Assembly delegation) cited Article 6 on prohibited acts, in Clause 3 of the draft law, which states "prohibition of disclosure and selection of the gender of the fetus in any form".
Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri said that the draft Law stated that it was unreasonable and proposed to revise "prohibiting selection and disclosure of information to select the gender of the fetus in any form".
Similarly, Article 15 stipulates suspension for medical practitioners who notify or disclose fetal gender information to customers. This delegate suggested that another amendment should be added, which is "for the purpose of gender selection intervention".
Regarding Article 14 on maintaining replacement fertility, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri suggested that it is necessary to supplement the content of infertility. The whole country has about 1 million infertile people, this number is very large. Therefore, the delegate proposed to supplement and encourage the payment of health insurance for diagnosis and treatment of infertility in provinces and cities with lower birth rates than replacement birth rates...
Meanwhile, also related to the Population Law, delegate Nguyen Minh Tam (Quang Tri delegation) spoke about reducing the gender balance at birth.
Accordingly, Clause 2, Article 15 of the draft law stipulates " only a person practicing medicine who publicly announces, notifies, or discloses information about the gender of a fetus to a customer, except in cases of determining gender for diagnosis and treatment of gender-related genetic diseases as prescribed by the Ministry of Health".
In reality, many families choose the gender of the fetus right from the start of IVF procedures (gs in the lab) and there is also no shortage of ways for medical practitioners to reveal gender in allusion words such as "like father, like mother"...
This person believes that the above general regulations ensure that these forms can be controlled and handling measures can be taken or not? Therefore, to avoid legal gaps, this delegate suggested that the drafting agency supplement an explanation of the phrase revealing the gender of the fetus in Article 2.
Accordingly, it is stipulated that: disclosing the gender of the fetus is a direct or indirect act, providing information to determine the gender of the fetus through words, signs, etc., including before, after ultrasound and in the reproductive support process, except in medical cases for diagnosis and related genetic treatment according to the Ministry of Health's regimen.
This delegate also agreed with the draft law regulating suspension for medical practitioners who disclose the gender of the fetus to customers. However, the general regulation of suspension is not in line with reality.
Therefore, delegate Tam proposed to study to supplement a sanctions framework according to the levels of violations such as warnings, administrative fines, suspensions, and revocation applicable to both individuals and establishments.
