India Bans Surrogacy To End The Exploitation Of Surrogate Women

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The Union Cabinet has passed the bill ending the commercial surrogacy scenario in India, allowing only ethical surrogacy to the needy infertile married Indian couples, including NRIs. Surrogacy services will also be banned for people of Indian origin, members of the LGBT community, overseas citizens of India, single parents, and live-in partners.

According to the official sources, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019, aims to regulate surrogacy in India by establishing a National Surrogacy Board at the central level and State Surrogacy Boards and appropriate authorities in the state and Union Territories.

What Is Surrogacy?

Surrogacy is an assisted reproduction method, supported by legal agreement, wherein a woman (surrogate) agrees to carry and care for the baby of intended parents till its birth.

Surrogates are of two types:

1. Gestational surrogate

This type of surrogacy is done using a technique called in vitro fertilization (IVF) where the surrogate mother's womb is implanted with a fertilized egg.

The surrogate then carries the baby until birth and she doesn't have any genetic ties with the child, because her egg wasn't used. A gestational surrogate is called the birth mother ^[1] .

2. Traditional surrogate

In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate woman gets artificially inseminated with the father's sperm. She then carries the baby and delivers it for the would-be parents to raise. A traditional surrogate is the baby's biological mother, because her egg was fertilized by the father's sperm [1].

Celebrities Who Chose Surrogacy

Surrogacy is becoming one of the most popular ways to build a quick family and the success rates have sky-rocketed in the past few years.

In Bollywood Karan Johar, Shahrukh Khan, Tushar Kapoor, and Sunny Leone and in the west Kim Kardashian, Nicole Kidman, to name a few, all of them have chosen surrogacy as a way to start their new family.

Why Was Commercial Surrogacy Banned?

The banning of commercial surrogacy is justified because it is misused. There have been reports that the surrogate women from the weaker section of the society are exploited. There are also incidents of unethical practices, children who are born out of surrogacy being abandoned and rackets of agents importing human embryos and gametes.

Children who are born out of surrogacy are also abused, and face problems of citizenship.

What's The State Of Other Countries

In Germany and France, surrogacy is seen as violating the dignity of women. In the UK, surrogacy is considered as a kind gesture from one woman to another. Other countries like Russia, Ukraine, and California permit commercial surgery.