A 50-year-old Japanese woman once touted as a possible prime minister has given birth after IVF. In conservative Japan, which bans surrogate mothers and donor eggs, the decision of Seiko Noda, who has been divorced since 2007, has stirred up a debate over reproductive technologies.

Ms Noda, a veteran campaigner for reproductive rights, told Vogue Japan recently that it was not her first choice. "I thought about adopting a child, but I hit a wall. I was told that considering the future of the child, it wasn't possible to do that for a woman who is almost 50, like me. An egg donor was the last resort."

Ms Noda has not been shy about her desire to conceive a child. In 2004, she told her story in a book titled "Watashi Wa Umitai" or "I Want To Give Birth." She is also a campaigner for innovative measures for raising the birthrate in Japan.

IVF is not popular in Japan, the Wall Street Journal reports. So brokers organise it in the US or India where women can buy donor eggs and hire surrogate mothers.

Bloodline is so important for Japanese that IVF children have to be adopted.  In 2003, a TV actress, Aki Mukai, had twins through an American surrogate mother after cervical cancer left her infertile. But because she was not the birth mother, she could not registered as the children’s mother. She fought the case all the way to the supreme court – and lost. The children were deemed to be foreigners until they were adopted in 2008. ~ Wall Street Journal, Jan 6; ABC News, Jan 7