Surrogacy

Surrogacy

News: The Union government has recently amended the Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022, allowing married couples to utilize donor eggs or donor sperm during surrogacy. The revised rules specify that at least one gamete used in the surrogacy process must originate from the intended parents.

Background:
1. Policy Change:
o The Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022, have been modified to allow married couples to use donor eggs or donor sperm during surrogacy.
2. Relief for Those with Medical Complications:
o This change provides significant relief to couples facing medical complications that prevent them from conceiving naturally or using their own gametes.
3. Reversal of Previous Amendment:
o The latest modification reverses a prior amendment introduced in March 2023, which had banned the use of donor gametes in surrogacy arrangements.
o This update in surrogacy regulations reflects a shift in policy that accommodates the needs and challenges faced by couples seeking assisted reproduction methods due to medical reasons.

About Surrogacy:
• Certainly! Heres the information presented in a plagiarism-free format:
• Surrogacy is a contractual process where a woman carries and delivers a child for a couple or individual after an embryo is implanted in her through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).
• Commercial surrogacy is prohibited in India. Only altruistic arrangements are permitted, where women acting as surrogates do not receive any monetary remuneration or compensation for their services.
• Only married couples and ever-married single women (widowed or divorced) are eligible to seek surrogacy services in India.
• Prospective parents are allowed to cover the altruistic surrogates insurance expenses and medical costs associated with the surrogacy process in India.
• These regulations outline the legal framework governing surrogacy in India, emphasizing the prohibition of commercial surrogacy and the conditions under which altruistic surrogacy arrangements are permitted.

Recent Amendments in Surrogacy law:
• As per the amended Surrogacy Rules effective March 14, 2023, using donor eggs for gestational surrogacy by intending couples was initially prohibited under Form 2 consent agreements.
• A recent notification from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has allowed married couples to use a donor gamete if certified by a District Magistrate Board that one partner suffers from a medical condition preventing natural conception.
• The notification emphasizes that in cases of surrogacy, the child must have at least one gamete from the intending parents. Therefore, if both partners in a married couple are medically unable to provide gametes, surrogacy may not be an option.
• This regulatory change does not extend to ever-married single women, such as widows or divorcees, who must use their own eggs and donor sperm for surrogacy.
• In India, the following individuals or couples cannot access surrogacy:
• Single individuals (except ever-married women who are widowed or divorced)
o Live-in couples
o LGBTQ couples
o Couples where one or both partners are older than 45 years old.