The National Assembly has passed legislation that will fundamentally change how assisted reproduction works in Kenya, drawing a hard line against commercial surrogacy while opening doors for couples struggling with infertility.
The Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, championed by Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo and refined by Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma, took nearly a decade to reach this point.
Odhiambo first introduced it back in 2014 as the In-Vitro Fertilization Bill, but it died when that parliamentary session ended. She brought it back in 2022, and after extensive redrafting, it finally cleared the National Assembly this week.
The most significant aspect of the new law is its outright prohibition of paid surrogacy. Anyone caught running a commercial surrogacy operation faces up to 10 years in prison or a fine reaching KES 10 million.
Kaluma explained that this wasn’t just about morality but about protecting children from exploitation, specifically citing concerns about organ harvesting, research abuse, and pedophilia rings that could potentially use commercial surrogacy as cover.
Instead, Kenya will only allow altruistic surrogacy, where surrogate mothers receive no payment beyond medical expenses and support. The law also slams the door on fertility tourism by restricting these services exclusively to Kenyan citizens.
Foreign nationals cannot use Kenyan surrogates or access assisted reproduction services in the country. The eligibility requirements are quite specific, as only Kenyans between 25 and 55 years old can seek surrogacy services.
Surrogate mothers must be aged 25 to 45, must already have at least one child of their own, and must pass both medical and psychological evaluations before proceeding. The law caps gamete donations at 10 per person and requires mandatory counseling for everyone involved.
READ: Chinese Startup Unveils Robot With Artificial Womb to Carry Babies
There’s also an interesting gender dynamic built into the legislation. Single women, whether divorced, widowed, or never married, can access these services if they’re certified as infertile or unable to conceive naturally.
However, single men are out of luck. According to Kaluma, men must be married to use assisted reproduction, partly because of concerns about a man raising a child he’s not genetically related to without a partner.
The law takes a firm stance that human life begins at conception, establishing legal protections for children born through assisted reproduction from that moment.
It also addresses practical concerns like parental leave, granting surrogate mothers 3 months off after birth while giving intended parents access to maternity and paternity leave as well.
Beyond surrogacy, the legislation bans several practices outright: human cloning, sex selection, selling sperm or eggs, selling embryos, and using someone’s reproductive material after they die unless they explicitly authorized it beforehand. Violators face the same penalties as those running commercial surrogacy operations.
The bill now heads to the Senate for approval before landing on the President’s desk. If it becomes law, Kenya will join a small group of African countries with comprehensive assisted reproduction regulations, addressing a problem that affects roughly 1 in 6 couples worldwide.
