Ova Brokers Remain Unchecked. Number of Births Resulting From In Vitro Fertilization Abroad Unknown

Although Yomiuri Shimbun research indicates that at least 130 children were born to Japanese parents from 2007 to 2011 after their mothers received ova from donors overseas, the exact number is unknown because the firms that arrange the treatment are unregulated.

While an increasing number of women in Japan wish to provide ova for infertile couples, rules on the practice have not been established in Japan. This has led to a growing number of unregulated brokerages in Japan that mediate in vitro fertilization with donated ova overseas.

The brokerages introduce ova donors to couples who want to receive in vitro fertilization.

The husband's sperm is used to fertilize the donor's ova in vitro at medical institutions overseas, and the fertilized egg is implanted in the wife's uterus. The wife then returns to Japan and gives birth.

At an office in central Tokyo of a company brokering such procedures overseas, numerous photos of smiling Japanese women in their 20s are kept in thick files. They are ova donors, some of whom are Japanese women studying in the United States.

The files...