(Daily News Scan - DNS English) The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019
Important Points:
Surrogacy bill 2019 has been given approval. The new bill aims to forbid commercial surrogacy, which was legalized in India in 2002. Legalizing commercial surrogacy aimed at promoting medical tourism in India. But now this practice will be banned in India. The new bill allows only altruistic surrogacy.
Commercial surrogacy refers to surrogacy arrangement in which the surrogate mother is compensated for her services apart from the medical expenses. This method of surrogacy has been a topic of debate and made the country a hub of this business. Though it has some demerits, but it has been fruitful to the couples and single parents as well. It also became a booming business in India. The country is among the very few groups of nation allowing this practice. According to a study of 2012 by Confederation of Indian Industry, India’s surrogate motherhood industry was $2 billion a year.
Commercial surrogacy takes advantage of its low cost and absence of strict regulations. Due to this, there was seen widespread exploitation of surrogate mothers and their children. This urged a need for regulation on surrogacy in the country. The bill was earlier cleared by the Lok Sabha in December 2018.
The new surrogacy regulation bill bans commercial surrogacy allowing only altruistic surrogacy. That means, the bill only allows close relatives to be the surrogate mothers. The new bill will be applicable to all states of India except Jammu and Kashmir. For opting surrogacy there are certain rules introduced in the new bill. The couples should not abandon the child later in any condition. Also surrogacy boards will be constituted at state and national level. There has been an age limitation for the female 23-50 years and male-26-55 years for opting surrogacy.
The new bill aims to regulate the practice of surrogacy in the country and to prevent the exploitation of surrogate mothers. It will also protect the rights of children born through surrogacy. In order to make the bill valid in the country conditions have been laid down for the couples that – the couple should be Indian and married for at least 5 years, only ethical altruistic surrogacy to infertile couple, a set age criteria for male and female, a certificate of essentiality and a certificate of eligibility should be obtained by the couple before leading the process of surrogacy.
The bill also has some regulations and eligibility criteria for the surrogate mother. The surrogate must be a relative of the couple, as well as she must be married having a child of her own. Her age should be between 25-35 years and must not have been a surrogate earlier. On the health perspective she must be mentally and physically certifiably fit. The bill also mentions that a woman can become a surrogate only once.
About the child born from surrogacy, the bill states that the child will be considered as the biological child of the intending couple. The child will be entitled to all the privileges and rights given to a natural child. The new bill will lead to more adoption of children.
A study backed by the United Nations conducted in 2012 estimated the economic scale of Indian surrogacy industry to be $400 million a year. India emerged as a hub for surrogacy for couples from abroad. There were also reports of involvement of rackets importing human embryo and gametes. The228th Law Commission India report on surrogacy recommended prohibition of commercial surrogacy as the surrogates were exploited because of issues like poverty and lack of education.
Countries like Australia, China, Japan, UK and most other European countries have banned surrogacy. Whereas countries like Russia, Ukraine and some US States have legalized commercial surrogacy. Except the Northern Territory of Australia allows altruistic surrogacy and criminalizes commercial surrogacy. It becomes difficult for couples to take their surrogate child back to their home country where surrogacy is banned or due to varying surrogacy laws. In order to fix these issues International laws should be made to tackle this circumstance and provide consistency making the process easier.
Banning commercial surrogacy does not do any good instead it
takes away the liberty of the poor women to come out of poverty and lift their
families. Moreover it leads to greater risks of underground and unregulated
practice of the same. The doctors, fertility specialists and people attached to
this business will also suffer. Restricting this facility only to close relative
will not be that beneficial because relative might not be ready to do this.
The focus should be on well being of surrogates as well as ensuring them with
financial remuneration and an insurance cover. Moreover regular heath checkups
should be made mandatory for them and the process should be legally documented.
Commercial surrogacy when done legally and ethically can be a fantastic way to help couples increasing their families. The intended parents on the other should follow ethical rules of commercial surrogacy, work with those having clear surrogacy laws and ensure their surrogate gets proper facilities.
