In this blog post, Ishita Mehta, a final year law student from Christ University Bengaluru provides an overview of the Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2016 and ban on commercial surrogacy.

Introduction:

The Surrogacy regulation bill of 2016 was introduced in Lok Sabha. The Bill regulates altruistic surrogacy and prohibits commercial surrogacy. The bill basically defines surrogacy as a practice of a woman giving birth to the child for an eligible couple and agrees to hand over the child after the birth of the child. With the aim of putting an end to the exploitation of poor women who agree to become surrogate mothers for money, the Union Cabinet recently cleared the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016. It permits moral surrogacy to the wedded barren couples. The surrogacy charge intends to restrict potential abuse of surrogate moms and youngsters conceived through surrogacy. The Bill portrays surrogacy as a practice where a woman delivers a child for a qualified couple and agrees to hand over the kid after the birth. The Bill licenses philanthropic surrogacy which incorporates a surrogacy strategy where the monetary reward just incorporates therapeutic expenses and insurance scope for the surrogate mother. Business surrogacy is denied under the Bill. This sort of surrogacy incorporates a money related advantage or reward (in real money or kind) that surpasses fundamental restorative costs and protection for the surrogate mother.

Important Points of the Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2016:

According to the bill, only Indian couples who have been married for at least  five years can opt for surrogacy, provided that  no less than one of them have been demonstrated to have fertility  related issues. Just close relatives, not really related by blood, will have the capacity to offer benevolent surrogacy to the qualified couples. The new Bill has put a total prohibition on commercial surrogacy. It additionally bans unmarried individuals, live-in couples and gay people from settling on altruistic surrogacy. Presently, outsiders, even Overseas Indians, can’t commission surrogacy. Surrogacy regulation board will be set at both Central and State-level. The law will be appropriate to the entire of India, with the exception of the condition of Jammu and Kashmir.  All Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) centers and clinics will be enrolled.  Surrogacy centers will be permitted to charge for the administrations rendered over the span of surrogacy, however the surrogate mother can’t be paid.

Commercial surrogacy, surrendering the surrogate youngster, abuse of surrogate mother, and offering/import of human incipient organism have all been stated as infringement with the punishment term of no less than 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. Under the new bill, the centers should keep up records of surrogacy for a long time.  The surrogate kid will have similar privileges of as that of an organic kid.

Eligibility of a Surrogate Mother:

The surrogate mother should be a close relative of the couple intending the surrogacy. The surrogate mother should be married or should have a child of her own. She should be in the age group of 24 years up to 35 years. She has not been a surrogate mother before and also possesses the certificate of being a surrogate to the couple.

The bill here additionally expresses the lawful status of a surrogate child. It expresses that any kid conceived out of a surrogacy method will be dealt with as the organic offspring of the planning couple and is qualified for all the privilege and the liabilities that are of the common tyke. There is additionally a procedure for charging a surrogacy. The couple who needs a surrogate kid can just go to the surrogate facilities that are enrolled by the administration and no typical centers. To begin the entire strategy, the couple and the surrogate mother need demonstrations to show that they are qualified. These validations will be yielded by an organization control if the couple and the surrogate mother fulfill each one of the conditions determined already. The bill does not indicate at whatever time period inside which power needs to concede testaments. Additionally, the Bill does not determine an audit or offer method on the off chance that the application for the endorsements is rejected. The bill also states the penalties for engaging in commercial surrogating. The Bill specifies that any person who takes the aid of a doctor or a surrogacy clinic in order to conduct commercial surrogacy will be punishable with imprisonment for a minimum term of five years and a fine that may extend to five lakh rupees.

The Offences applicable are as follows  (i) undertaking commercial surrogacy; (ii) exploiting surrogate mother or child; and (iii) selling or importing human embryo or gametes for surrogacy will attract a minimum penalty of 10 years and a fine up to 10 lakh rupees.

Commercial Surrogacy is basically governed and issued by the Indian Council for Medical Research, they are not enforced and the clinics are not legally bound to follow them. In a business surrogacy course of action, the surrogate mother is paid to convey the tyke amid the term of the pregnancy. In commercial surrogacy, the surrogate mother is not compensated; the surrogate mother generally is known to the planned guardians and she approaches to be a surrogate mother out of adoration and warmth for the expected guardians. India is presumably one of the last nations needing to boycott commercial surrogacy. The Surrogacy Bill, 2016, is to ensure the enthusiasm of the poor ladies who approach to go about as surrogate moms. The subject of poor ladies being abused by the rich has been raised at whatever point the theme of surrogacy is talked about.

The bill accommodates selfless surrogacy wherein close relatives of the fruitless couple could go about as surrogate moms and help them have a kid. Benevolent surrogacy is permitted in many nations yet has not ended up being an extremely effective model.  In India, when a specialist guides a barren couple for surrogacy, altruistic surrogacy is the main choice that is displayed to them. Yet, in actuality, relatively few can pick it. The motivation behind why charitable surrogacy has never been fruitful is that the barren couple is subject to the sensitivity of a relative who can help them. It is not an exchange of equivalents. All things considered, the human appropriate to wind up distinctly as a parent can’t be founded on the sensitivity a relative feels for the infertile.  After all, the human ideal to end up distinctly as a parent can’t be founded on the sensitivity a relative feels for the barren couple’s untold wretchedness. In affectionate families for example, in India, the prospect of having the lady who conveyed the youngster all through the kid’s life brings passionate difficulties inside the family and, all the more essentially, for the tyke.

Be that as it may, can the torments of the rich and the moderate be a decent purpose to abuse a poor lady? Surrogacy has been an unregulated field and there is monstrous extension for misuse of poor ladies going about as surrogate moms. What’s more, that is the single significant reason that required the control of the exchange. The proposed guardians and surrogate moms anticipated that the legislature would think of the correct stage for the surrogacy course of action so they can work without degree for abuse. A stage where the dangers of things turning out badly could be decreased and where go between can’t deceptively benefit from the surrogacy course of action. Be that as it may, the cure introduced by the administration is to boycott business surrogacy and permit just charitable surrogacy. Controlling Commercial surrogacy is intense, however the aim is of  sensible clarification to boycott an exceptionally effective, attempted and time-tried model to help childless couples and poor surrogate moms in the meantime?

It considers it a “rent a womb” industry. In landscape where there is extreme poverty, not just nationally but globally also. Surrogacy is a slippery slope because a woman is renting her womb; it is a completely unregulated environment. This is just to protect the surrogate because suppose if the couple or the clinic violates the law, the surrogate is not able to enforce it, secondly there is no testing if one of the parent is HIV positive to protect the mother, thirdly what about the psychological impact upon a woman’s womb if suddenly a child is picked up. This is done basically to not take the narcissism of an individual who cannot have a child by himself. Being infertile doesn’t make any woman less of a woman. There is always an option to adopt a child and give him the same love and care. Surrogacy is anti – women. It is anti-women who are infertile, anti the woman who becomes surrogate. It is simply an institution facilitated by capitalism.

However, I totally condemn upon the condition in the bill which makes it illegal for homosexual people, for single parents and to foreigners to make use of medial facilities for altruistic surrogacy in India.  It shows that they are pushing a cultural agenda which is against our constitution.