MPs quest for motherhood takes centrestage in IVF debate

Taveta MP Naomi Shaban (centre) hugs Taita-Taveta Woman Representative Joyce Lay on March 25, 2015. Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo, who proposed the in-vitro fertilization Bill in Parliament, is at left. FILE PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI

What you need to know:

  • Joyce Lay, the Taita Taveta Woman MP was on the verge of tears as she spoke of the hurdles she encountered while trying to adopt a child.
  • Millie Odhiambo who in her own words is "mother of many adopted children” said she was hopeful of being a beneficiary by one day having her own children.

Debate on the in-vitro fertilization Bill turned emotional as women MPs spoke out on the challenges they personally faced in their quest for motherhood.

Joyce Lay, the Taita-Taveta Woman representative, was on the verge of tears as she spoke of the hurdles she encountered while trying to adopt a child.

In her contribution, she recounted how difficult it was for Kenyan women who were unable, for one reason or another, to bear their own children.

“We need a law that will save the pain of women going to lawyers and the court process just to seek to adopt a child of their own,” said Ms Lay.

MOTHER OF MANY

The emotional MP said she was speaking from personal experience, saying the introduction of the Bill to the House, was an answered prayer.

She made the tearful remarks during debate for the second reading of the in vitro fertilization Bill proposed by Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo, who is seeking legislation to assist women who cannot bear children normally to have children through the technique.

Ms Odhiambo said the legislation would help women bear their own children without resorting to shortcuts.

The MP, who, in her own words, is the "mother of many adopted children”, said she hoped she would be a beneficiary by one day having her own children.

The MP acknowledged that the process was expensive and without any guarantees.

“Women spend as much as Sh1 million trying to have a child and the money is not refundable if it does not work and they have to spend such an amount all over again,” she said.