Hong Kong is set to scrap a regulation limiting the storage duration for frozen eggs, sperm, and embryos to 10 years in December amid the city’s declining birth rate.
Legislative amendments will remove the storage duration limit for frozen gametes – eggs and sperm – and embryos “to enable members of the public to make their own decisions on the storage duration of their gametes or embryos depending on their health and other conditions, with a view to better realising reproductive autonomy,” the government said in a statement on Friday.
The amendments will axe the rule limiting gametes and embryos to a maximum storage period of 10 years, or until the patient reaches 55 years of age if they are infertile as a result of medical treatments.
The proposal, published in the government gazette on Friday, was previously released in March to “encourage childbearing at patients’ best reproductive age.”
The amendments will be passed directly into law on Wednesday under a legislative procedure allowing the proposal to be scrutinised by lawmakers at a later date.
The changes are expected to take effect on December 1, subject to the Legislative Council’s approval.
Under the new amendments, the Council on Human Reproductive Technology will also include new measures requiring people who have stored their gametes or embryos for more than five years to receive additional counselling services before storage can be extended, according to Friday’s statement.
Falling birth rate
Hong Kong has struggled with a declining birth rate in recent years, with childless couples on the rise and kindergarten enrolment falling.
The median age of first-time mothers also rose, from 29.4 in 2003 to 32.9 in 2023.
Over 70 per cent of survey respondents said they did not want children, according to results released by the Hong Kong Women Development Association in March.
A survey by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) in October found that those who did not want children cited the city’s education system, political environment and living space.
Authorities have been giving married couples a one-off HK$20,000 handouts for each child they have since October 2023, though academics have criticised the policy as ineffective in swaying those who have decided not to have children.
Tax cuts and public housing priority are also among the incentives offered by the government in an effort to boost the city’s birth rate.
Under Hong Kong law, only heterosexual married couples can store their embryos. Gay and lesbian couples are excluded from reproductive technology services because the city does not recognise same-sex marriage.
