Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021: In News
The Supreme Court recently ruled that the age limits under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, do not apply to couples who had frozen their embryos and initiated the surrogacy process before the law came into force on January 25, 2022.
- In India, surrogacy is regulated by the Surrogacy Regulation Act, 2021.
- This act prohibits commercial surrogacy.
- The object of this Act is to prevent the exploitation of the women who may be lured into the arrangements of the commercial surrogacy.
- Under the provisions of the Act altruistic surrogacy is permitted whereby the surrogate mother is required to carry the child to help another individual or couple without receiving the monetary benefit other than medical and insurance expenses.
- It provides for the prohibition and regulation of surrogacy clinics. It states that “No Surrogacy Clinic shall conduct or associate with or assist in the performance of the activities relating to the surrogacy and surrogacy procedures unless such clinic has been registered under this Act”.
- It prohibits any person or entity, including the surrogacy clinic, paediatrician, gynaecologist, embryologist, or even the registered medical practitioner to engage in any form of the commercial surrogacy practices.
- It further prohibits the abortion during the period of the surrogacy without the written consent of the surrogate mother and the registered medical practitioner, including the gynaecologist, paediatrician, and embryologist.
- Surrogacy procedures shall not be performed or initiated unless the certificate of essentiality is obtained by the intended couple.
- It provides that a surrogate must be a woman who has been married and has at least one child of her own.
- She must be between the age of 25 -35 years on the date of implantation.
- The surrogate mother should refrain from providing her own gametes and from acting as a surrogate mother more than once.
- It states that the intended couple must be married.
- The women must be between the age of 23-50 years, and the man must be between the age of 26-55 years on the date of the certification.
- Intended partners must have been married for the period of 5 years and must be nationals of India.
- Further it states that the intended couple should not have any surviving children, whether biologically or through adoption or from any earlier surrogacy procedures.
- “A child born out of the surrogacy procedure shall be deemed to be the biological child of the intended couple and shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges which are available to the natural child.
