The Government is likely to introduce Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2013 in the Winter Session of Parliament with an aim to regulate assisted reproduction like surrogacy and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) as well as IVF clinics which have been mushrooming across the country.
Secretary (Health Research) VM Katoch said that the Bill has been cleared after rounds of discussions with various Ministries and other stakeholders and willbe presented before the Cabinet soon.
“After it is cleared by the Cabinet, we hope the Bill will be introduced in the coming Winter Session of Parliament,” he said at a two-day national conference beginning Monday which aims to come up with recommendations for a rights based legal framework on surrogacy in India.
“The Bill seeks to address issues like how many pregnancies can be allowed for a surrogate mother, the age of the mother and due compensation to be paid to her,” he said adding it will also provide a framework for letting foreigners use Indian surrogate mothers.
“There is also a punishment framework for violators,” Katoch said. As per the Bill, for a woman to be a surrogate mother she should be aged between 23 and 35 years; should be married; and has at least one live child aged three years or above. Further, she can be surrogate only once in her lifetime.
Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research, said, “Surrogate motherhood has grown exponentially in India to become part of a thriving globalised industry. However, it raises difficult ethical, philosophical and social issues”.
She pointed out that surrogacy essentially changes the unique biological ability of a woman’s body to reproduce into a commercial business when a monetary transaction is involved. This is complicated further by the lack of strong legal provisions to safeguard the interest of the surrogate mother.
Echoing similar views, Shamina Shafiq of the NCW said, “Unfortunately, surrogacy is all about the child and not mother. The contracts are in English and cannot be comprehended by these poor women. The commercial aspect of surrogacy treats mothers as disposables. The mothers should be allowed to feed and nurture the child in case of a medical emergency and trauma.”
lopamudra Mohanty of Ministry of Women and Child Development said, “The ART clinics need to maintain high standards and integrity because surrogacy in India is indirectly also leading to sex selective abortions.”