Lawmaker Noda becomes pregnant at 49 after fertility treatment

TOKYO —

Seiko Noda, a 49-year-old House of Representatives member of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, has become pregnant through artificial insemination after years of fertility treatment, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.
   
The former minister in charge of posts and telecommunications as well as consumers affairs is currently 15 weeks’ pregnant and is scheduled to give birth around February next year, when she will be 50. Noda is not married but has a de facto marital relationship with her partner, they said.
   
In 2004, Noda published a book titled ‘‘Watashi wa Umitai’’ (I Want to Give Birth) which depicts her physical and emotional struggles in undergoing fertility treatment and clashes with LDP House of Councillors member Yosuke Tsuruho, who was then her partner and initially opposed to the treatment.
   
Noda confirmed her pregnancy in an article in the weekly Shukan Shincho, which goes on sale on Thursday.
   
Noda says she received the treatment in the United States at a cost of ‘‘several million yen,’’ according to the article, a copy of which was made available on Wednesday.
   
As Noda is a major advocate of a system to allow married couples to have separate surnames and current Japanese law stipulates that couples should have the same surname, she has opted not to officially register her marriage.
   
She had made it public that she could not conceive because of a blocked fallopian tube and that she suffered a miscarriage after successfully getting pregnant through in vitro fertilization while maintaining a partnership with Tsuruho.
   
The two LDP lawmakers ended their five-year relationship in 2006.

   
In the magazine article, Noda calls for Japan to introduce legislation that would authorize such things as surrogate motherhood and egg donations from third persons ‘‘by acknowledging reality.’‘
   
‘‘Whatever happens, I want to give birth,’’ she says.
   
The six-term lower house member, who was once touted as a potential candidate to become Japan’s first female premier, has been calling on the government to implement drastic measures to reverse Japan’s falling birthrate such as creating a new ministry dedicated to improving the environment for childbirth and childrearing.
   
In May this year, she expressed her eagerness to run in the next leadership election of the LDP. 

(Source) http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/lawmaker-noda-becomes-pregnant-at-49-after-fertility-treatment