Minister Dao Hong Lan: Carefully and strictly consider regulations on surrogacy

Due to its voluntary nature, the regulation of the law on surrogacy has been discussed very carefully by the National Assembly and strict regulations have been issued to avoid the exploitation and abuse of regulations for surrogacy or business in surrogacy.

This was the statement, response, and explanation given by Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan during the National Assembly's group discussion on the Population Law on the morning of October 23rd.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan speaks at the group discussion session on the morning of October 23.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan emphasized that population issues are among the important issues and have been addressed in many documents of the Party and the State. Most recently, Resolution 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025, of the Politburo also contains many important orientations on population policy.

Minister Dao Hong Lan stated that, in the past, population policy has mainly been implemented according to the Population Ordinance. However, Vietnam is facing an aging population and a declining replacement fertility rate, requiring fundamental and urgent solutions. Therefore, the Government has assigned the Ministry of Health to urgently review, revise, and supplement relevant regulations.

Minister Dao Hong Lan affirmed that when drafting the Population Law, the drafting agency selected issues not covered by other laws and conducted a thorough review. Therefore, policies related to population structure and quality, reducing gender imbalance at birth, replacement fertility rates, and population aging are core contents of the policy.

Regarding the specific content of the draft law, Minister Dao Hong Lan stated: Concerning the issue of surrogacy, the Minister believes it should not be included in the draft Population Law. This issue will be considered and evaluated based on various socio-economic factors to arrive at an appropriate decision when the National Assembly amends the Marriage and Family Law.

Minister Dao Hong Lan stated that surrogacy is regulated by the 2014 Marriage and Family Law, which came into effect in 2015. This issue was thoroughly discussed in the National Assembly and sparked intense public debate because it relates to many aspects of society, especially family matters, legal issues, the rights of surrogate mothers, and the socio-psychological consequences.

Therefore, the issue of surrogacy has been carefully considered by the National Assembly, and Vietnam is one of the few countries that has regulations on the right to surrogacy, while most other countries do not implement this. However, when analyzing the right to motherhood for infertile women, the definition of surrogacy for humanitarian purposes has been included in the law.

Regarding the policies in the draft law, Minister Dao Hong Lan stated that the Ministry of Health is eager to have specific policies, especially financial support policies. However, this needs to be balanced across many aspects, particularly financial resources.

Regarding the policy of supporting social housing for those who have two children, the draft Law proposes adding more priority groups. Currently, priority groups for purchasing or renting social housing include families of revolutionary martyrs, relatives of fallen soldiers, people with disabilities, and those allocated resettlement housing.

“We propose adding priority groups such as families where the woman has given birth to two children, or men who have two children and whose wives have passed away. The goal is to help families with two children have more stable living conditions. The draft law approaches this from that perspective,” Minister Dao Hong Lan stated.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/bo-truong-dao-hong-lan-xem-xet-ky-luong-chat-che-quy-dinh-viec-mang-thai-ho-20251023140016738.htm