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Government passes surrogacy bill

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Ms. Swaraj said: “Each country has to make laws that are aligned with our values, as per a legal framework. Homosexual couples are not recognized by law in India.”

The Bill also prohibits couples who already have biological or adopted children from commissioning babies through surrogacy.

The surrogacy debate started in India in 2008, when two-week-old Baby Manji Yamada was left stateless after the commissioning parents in Japan divorced during the pregnancy and the commissioning mother refused to accept the baby. While the court granted custody to the baby’s grandmother after a long legal battle, the case led the Gujarat HC to state that there is “extreme urgency to push through legislation” which addresses such issues. Subsequently, the 228th report of the Law Commission of India recommended prohibiting commercial surrogacy and allowing ethical altruistic surrogacy to the needy Indian citizens by enacting a suitable legislation.

The Bill approved on Wednesday will apply to the whole of India, except Jammu and Kashmir. Before being passed by the Cabinet, a Group of Ministers (GoM) had recently cleared the Bill.

Taking a jibe at celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, who had children by way of surrogacy, Ms Swaraj said that, “rich people outsource pregnancies to poorer women because their wives cannot go through labour pain. We have put a complete stop to celebrities who are commissioning surrogate children like a hobby, despite having biological ones.”

Further, the new Bill mandates that women acting as surrogates can do so only once. And all Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics will be registered.

“We have given 10 months during which pregnancies under way now can be seen through and the babies delivered to the commissioning parents. After that all clinics will have to adhere to these new laws once Parliament passes the Bill in the next session,” said J.P. Nadda, Health Minister.

In 2002, India became the first country to legalize commercial surrogacy. By 2012, India had become the ‘surrogacy capital’ of the world with surrogacy tourism valued at approximately $500 million annually by a paper written by advocate Amil Malhotra titled, ‘All aboard for the fertility express.’
In what could be a major step in to keep a check on surrogacy, the government has passed a bill that allows only Indian married couple to practice surrogacy. MEA Sushma Swaraj said: “Each country has to make laws that a aligned with our values, as per a legal framework. Homosexual couples are not recognized by law in India.”

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