Age no bar to parenthood, says HC, clears IVF for older couple

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stated that the law cannot be used to deny older couples the chance to have children through assisted medical science. The ruling came as Justice Suvir Sehgal set aside a State appellate authority’s order denying IVF and other services to a married couple, who lost their only son last year. The court ruled that there was no legal bar on the couple’s age, use of a donor egg, medical risks involved, or the fact that they have a living child, and permitted them to proceed with IVF.

Allowing the writ petition, the court quashed the February 6, 2025, order that denied the couple access to Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

The petitioners, aged 47 and 56 years, had two children—a daughter who got married in 2020 and a son who died in 2024 due to jaundice. After the tragedy, they approached a gynaecologist for IVF, but were turned away on the ground that the man had crossed 55 years and the woman, having attained menopause, would require a donor oocyte, which was impermissible under the ART Act.

Their initial petition was disposed of with a direction to the authority concerned to take a decision “in light of statutory provisions as well as judicial precedents”. But their case was rejected, compelling them to move the court again.

The court relied on earlier rulings to reiterate that there was no age restriction for a “commissioning couple” under the Act.

The court stated that the Act recognised gamete donation and provided for ART banks to source such gametes. “The primary purpose of the ART Act is to regulate and supervise the ART clinics and banks, so as to prevent their misuse and avoid unsafe and unethical practices. The intent of the statute would stand defeated if the reasoning given by the respondent (for rejecting their case) is accepted,” it said.

On concerns about medical risks and possible genetic abnormalities, it said the couple had been informed of the risks and was willing to undertake them.