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Cabinet nod to Draft Surrogacy Bill

It is a definitely a disappointing day in the history for childless couples. Perhaps, policy makers are not aware of the need for surrogacy for complex lifestyle society. There should be a regulation, and all possible attempts must be taken to stop the wrongdoing. But banning might aggravate the issue and make way for non-ethical practices.

Somewhere I feel that the social stigma and mental agony of an infertile couple are missing in this draft surrogacy bill. There are millions of women who need surrogacy as a means of having a child, and if this is denied to them, the repercussions are very severe for them. Every family wants a child at any cost, and if a woman is responsible for not giving them a child, she will be tortured, abandoned and divorced. The poor helpless woman will be forced to commit suicide or opt for unfair means of earning just for the sake of survival. Is this not a fundamental human rights violation?

Late marriages are a norm today. If a couple gets married at 40 years and finds out that wife is unfit to carry a pregnancy in her womb for 9 months, why should they wait for another 5 years to go for surrogacy? India does not follow one child norm. Then why should a couple who has one baby cannot try surrogacy?

In this era of nuclear families with hardly any siblings from where do we get close relatives (not defined in law) who will carry a child for her relatives in her womb for 9 months without any monetary gains. Why so much hue and cry about surrogate exploitation when there is no complaint so far from any surrogate about the same. As far as abandoning the child there is not a single reported case so far for Indian couples.

Punishment of 10 years in jail and 10 lakh penalty is unheard of, and for intentional murder, the life imprisonment is 14 years and for giving a life the punishment is for 10 years.

Regulate the surrogacy industry by all means, but a total ban looks an easy way out.

Do we ban the whole aviation industry because one plane goes missing or meets with an accident where all passengers die or we regulate that industry?

Below are the key aspects of the surrogacy bill. The government has brought in many stringent conditions which will seek to prevent misuse of surrogacy and regulate it for the safety of the mother.

Source:- http://ddinews.gov.in/Home%20-%20Headlines/Pages/Surrogacybill.aspx

• The new bill has banned commercial surrogacy in India, in effect making the fledgeling surrogate industry ineffective at one go. It will bring surrogacy within the ambit of law.
• At Present, there is no legislation for the regulation of surrogacy in India it is regulated under the national guidelines for accreditation, supervision and regulation of ART clinics of India 2005.
• The draft bill approved by the cabinet has many conditions which must be met by the couple before they will be eligible for a surrogate child. The government has made it necessary for them to fulfil many conditions.
• The couple who are wishing to go for surrogacy must be Indian citizens. No foreign national, not even overseas citizens of India will be allowed the services.
• The next condition is that the couple must be legally married for at least 5 years. That age bracket for women is 23-50 years, while that for male is 26-55 years. The doctors must have declared them unfit to have progeny in a normal way, only then surrogacy will be allowed.
• The government will not allow anyone who are already having their biological or adopted child to have surrogate baby. There are many conditions that have to be fulfilled by the surrogate mother.
• The government also seeks to regulate the surrogacy clinics with the bill. Registration will be compulsory and it will have to take care of child’s rights.
• Any decision to abandon the child or ill treat the surrogate mother and not give the child his or her due will invite stringent punishment. Transgression will invite a fine of 10 lakhs and imprisonment of 10 years.
• Bill seeks to ensure that the child will be entitled to rights equivalent to that of a biological child. Clinics will also have to track records of the surrogate child for 25 years.
• The bill has a provision for the establishment of a national surrogate board headed by Union health minister and similar structural formations at the state level to facilitate the implementation of various aspects of the law.

Surrogacy is a win-win situation for both the parties. One gets the much-desired baby and the other gets the much-needed money with clear transparency and without any exploitation.

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Tags: Cunnercial surrogacy in India, Effect of surrogacy bill, facts related to surrogacy, legal process in surrogacy, New Conditions in Surrogacy Service in India