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{
    "id": 543130,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/543130/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 189,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Ombaka",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1007,
        "legal_name": "Christine Oduor Ombaka",
        "slug": "christine-oduor-ombaka"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I want to, first of all, give glowing tribute to the Mover, hon. Millie Odhiambo, for this very timely Bill. Assisted technology is coming to Africa too late. It has been in existence a long time ago in many countries, especially in the First World. The first child that was born out of assisted technology was Lesley Brown, who was born in the 1970s. Since then assisted technology has developed and a lot of progress has been achieved. So many families are happy because assisted technology is helping them to get children. In Africa, we are still battling with it. It is as though it is starting afresh. We need to learn from what has already happened. We should simply borrow from the achievements that have been made in other countries. This Bill is great because it is going to solve many problems that have affected families. Many families in Africa today break up because there is no child. Many women suffer because they do not have children. The African culture had other means of ensuring that families get children. That is why polygamy was part of it. That is why in some communities, a woman who cannot have kids can marry another woman to have children for her. That has been a way of dealing with the problem of bareness. However, in modern society, such arrangements may not be necessary. Technology can support the family. Therefore, we need to support this technology to the best we can rather than throw it away. It is going to solve problems. Many families will be safe and happy. The only problem is that assisted technology is too expensive for many women who need help to afford it. Those who are better off financially travel abroad to receive or to access those kinds of services. Poor women in the rural areas may not benefit from the technology. That is why once this Bill is passed, we will look into ways and means of making assisted technology cheap enough for many women and men to access the services. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the fear that is being brought in by the Committee on Health is not necessary. There is no need of being afraid that the law will be abused. The law is here to punish those who abuse things. The law is here to punish those who go through unsafe abortion. Part of the problem is abortion but there is a law against that practice. There is a law against those who dump their children on the streets. Even that is part of the problem of maternal health. Therefore, when we talk about maternal health, all these issues should be collapsed together, so that we can have a way forward. If anybody does not see the benefit of introducing this technology and subjecting its use to regulation through establishment of an authority, that person does not understand why families break up. Only the other day, we talked about domestic protection. The introduction of this technology will be part of the solution to domestic violence. Families will be more protected. We have not seen what the Committee on Health has brought and, therefore, we cannot talk about it; it is not there. We cannot talk about what does not exist. When it comes and catches up with what we already have in place, we can easily collapse it into one big law. When we have not seen it, we cannot talk about it. Therefore, we go by what hon. Millie Odhiambo has produced. That is what we will work with until such a time when we have the Committee on Health coming up with their Bill. Nobody has said that what we are coming up with is bad or cannot be used. It is just going to complement what 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."
}