Amid the uproar in the ongoing Parliament session, Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Surrogacy(Regulation) Bill, 2018 to the regulate surrogacy in the country and protect women from the exploitation involved. The bill poses an absolute ban on “commercial surrogacy”. It, however, allows “altruistic surrogacy”
The highlights of Surrogacy(Regulation) Bill, 2018 are:
- Only Indian citizens can avail surrogacy. Foreigners, NRIs, and PIOs are not allowed to seek surrogacy in India.
- Homosexuals, single parents, and couples who already have children are barred from seeking surrogacy.
- The intending couple should possess a certificate of essentiality issued by an appropriate authority. Such authorities will be appointed by Central and State governments. Also, surrogacy clinics will be managed by these authorities.
- For a woman to be a surrogate, she has to: (i) be a close relative of the intending couple; (ii) be an ever-married woman having a child of her own; (iii) be 25 to 35 years old; (iv) not have been a surrogate mother earlier; and (iv) have a certificate of medical and psychological fitness.
- For the couples seeking surrogacy, the wife should be of age 23-50 and the husband should be of age 26-55 and the couple should be married for at least five years.
- If the law is violated, the person is liable to be penalized and imprisoned.
- The Bill is applicable to all the states except Jammu and Kashmir.
Surrogacy is an arrangement where a woman agrees to give birth to a child or children for another person or persons who become the parent(s) of the newborn(s).
If the surrogate mother is compensated for her services, then it is called “Commercial Surrogacy“.
And if she volunteers to be a surrogate, without any monetary compensation, then it falls under “Altruistic Surrogacy“.