Allow surrogacy to single women, says Rajya Sabha panel

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 5

A Rajya Sabha select committee reviewing the Surrogacy Regulation Bill which the Lok Sabha had passed in 2018 today said the surrogate mother need not be a close relative of the intending parents as mandated by the mother draft law. Recommending changes to the original legislation which passed the LS test on December 19, 2018, the Rajya Sabha panel, which tabled its report today, batted for surrogacy services to be made available to single Indian women also. Currently, the law allows only infertile married Indian and NRI couples who have failed to have a child in five years of marriage to seek altruistic surrogacy.

“The definition of su

rrogate mothers should not be restricted to close relatives alone and should include any willing woman,” said the 23-member panel, chaired by the BJP’s Bhupender Yadav.

The committee advocated surrogacy to be allowed for single women – widows and divorcees —- as also persons of Indian origin.

The current law bars foreigners, PIOs, overseas citizens of India (OCIs), single, divorced persons, widows and LGBT community from engaging surrogates.

The RS panel has suggested removal of the provision of requirement of five years to seek surrogacy besides increasing the insurance cover for the surrogate mother from the present 16 months to 36 months.

On the eligibility for availing surrogacy, the committee sought deletion of the definition of infertility saying five years is too long a period for anyone to wait to have a child. The current law requires that an intending couple seeking surrogacy must prove its infertility by exhausting other child-bearing options over five years of marriage.

“For eligibility, the Bill should include certain proven medical conditions like absence of uterus by birth, non-functional uterus, removal of uterus due to cancer, fibroids and patients with chronic medical condition where normal pregnancy is ruled out and it is medically proven beyond any doubt that surrogacy is the only option,” the panel added, noting that the requirement of certificate of proven infertility for such cases wasn’t justified.

With the proposed deletion of the definition of infertility, needy persons can seek surrogacy based on a certificate of medical indication requiring gestational surrogacy, the panel said, adding that single Indian woman aged 35 to 45 years be allowed to avail surrogacy.

As a general recommendation, the committee said the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill, awaiting Cabinet approval, may be taken up before the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill since the ART Bill primarily deals with technical, scientific and medical aspects which also apply to storage of embryos, gametes and oocytes as contained in the Surrogacy Bill.

The committee also asked the appropriate authorities of the Central and state governments to submit data on number of surrogacy procedures, surrogacy clinics and related aspects to the National Board on Surrogacy so as to develop a proper database which helps in monitoring and regulation of surrogacy in the country. The RS panel held 10 meetings since its constitution last November 21 and visited surrogacy clinics at Anand (Gujarat), Hyderabad, and Mumbai to engage stakeholders.

The government would need to review the recommendations and see if it wants to pilot a fresh Bill incorporating the RS panel suggestions.

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