Three more couples have attempted to use host surrogacy and two had babies at a maternity clinic in Nagano Prefecture that has challenged Japanese academic guidelines banning such reproductive assistance, the clinic's director said Thursday.

At a press conference in Tokyo, obstetrician Yahiro Netsu, who runs the Suwa Maternity Clinic in Shimosuwa, Nagano Prefecture, also revealed that a 60-year-old unmarried woman who had conceived with a fertilized egg donated in the United States has given birth at his clinic and that he is attempting surrogate births for more than 10 more couples.

In the absence of any legislation regulating surrogate births in Japan, the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology is banning its members from offering surrogate births.