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{
    "id": 543161,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/543161/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Nyasuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 590,
        "legal_name": "Gladys Atieno Nyasuna",
        "slug": "gladys-atieno-nyasuna"
    },
    "content": "move on with technology to see how we can give every woman who wants to have a child, the opportunity to do so. I listened with great interest to my colleagues, hon. Millie and hon. Joyce Lay, give their personal experiences in this matter. When I got married, the first and the second years passed and when people came to visit me, they were making prayers, asking God to hasten the process of children coming. Society expects that when women get married, they should have children. Sometimes, this matter is of great distress for many women who cannot get children naturally. That is why this Bill was brought – so that we have a legal framework for supporting assisted reproduction. I will be in the forefront in supporting it so that every woman who wants to have a child naturally or artificially is supported. There is a legal framework to have it happen. This is why I thank hon. Millie, the women and men in this House who have stood up to support this Bill. It is unfortunate that the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Health has left. The Vice Chairperson spoke very strongly. I want to tell the Departmental Committee on Health to be flexible. It is not the first time we are having an argument with the Departmental Committee on Health as to whether a Private Member should just introduce a Bill. I was distressed to hear one member of the Departmental Committee on Health saying “they are allowing.” It is not upon the Departmental Committee on Health to allow or refuse Bills because we are in this House to legislate. The Departmental Committee on Health should only facilitate Members, add, subtract and consult with Members. They should ensure that they are facilitating Members to bring as many Bills as possible in these areas and not to grant themselves the power to allow or refuse Bills from coming to the Floor of this House. The Departmental Committee on Health must rethink their strategy because every time a Private Member brings a Bill we have had an argument as to whether the Departmental Committee on Health is going to allow that Private Member’s Bill. We remember the case of hon. Opiyo’s Bill where the Departmental Committee on Health simply said that they already had a Bill that was similar yet they were taking that Bill to try and make it the property of the Government. Private Members are here to legislate. Let the Departmental Committee on Health allow us to move forward in legislation. The issue of an authority being created to regulate these matters has been debated here extensively and there are people saying that, that lays a burden on our budget and the taxpayer. We have legislated here for authorities to deal with disposal of assets and what have you, all manner of mundane issues. To have an authority to deal with a matter as serious as this is really basic. I do not see that it is going to lay such a huge burden on the taxpayer that we can or should actually be thinking about that ahead of the importance of this Bill. We have been told about the Health Bill and about experts on this matter and not the doctors. Experts on this matter are the women who feel the pain and the burden. The Health Bill has been coming for a long time. In fact, on everything that is raised on matters of health we have always been referred to the Health Bill. We know that we were once told that the Health Bill disappeared. Nobody could trace the Health Bill. Now we are told it is coming. We cannot stall a Bill in anticipation of a Bill whose whereabouts we do not know. I want to stop at that because I see that there is little time. There is a lot of interest. I fully support this Bill and I thank hon. Millie for introducing it. The The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}