In a revelation that has stunned experts, Japan's first surrogate mother gave birth at a maternity clinic in Nagano Prefecture this spring for a woman whose uterus had been surgically removed, the clinic said Saturday.
More than 10 Japanese babies have reportedly been born since 1991 by surrogate mothers in the United States, where the practice is not prohibited.
However, the first surrogate birth in Japan is certain to provoke nationwide debate as a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry panel recommended last December that the practice be banned, calling it the "use of humans as a tool for reproduction," experts said.
The surrogate mother, a younger sister of the biological mother, gave birth at Suwa Maternity Clinic in the town of Shimosuwa, Nagano Prefecture.