Surrogacy rules changed, couples with medical condition can use donor gametes
- February 23, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Surrogacy rules changed, couples with medical condition can use donor gametes
Subject: Science and tech
Section: Biotechnology
Context:
- The Centre has amended the surrogacy rules 2022 to allow married couples with a medical condition to use a donor’s egg or sperm.
More on news:
- The District Medical Board certifies the need for a donor gamete. Single women (widow or divorcee) must use self-eggs and donor sperm.
- The amendment came after the Supreme Court last year received petitions from women across the country after it allowed a woman with a rare congenital disorder to avail surrogacy with a donor egg.
- The Centre had in March 2023 issued a notification banning donor gametes for couples intending to undergo surrogacy.
- Form 2 (Consent of the Surrogate Mother and Agreement for Surrogacy) of the Surrogacy Rules read with Rule 7 was amended on March 14, 2023 to stipulate that donor eggs could not be used for gestational surrogacy of an intending couple.
About Surrogacy:
- Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman (the surrogate) agrees to carry and give birth to a child on behalf of another person or couple (the intended parent/s).
- A surrogate, sometimes also called a gestational carrier, is a woman who conceives, carries and gives birth to a child for another person or couple (intended parent/s).
Various Conditions in Surrogacy:
- In case when the District Medical Board certifies that either husband or wife constituting the intending couple suffers from a medical condition necessitating use of donor gamete, then surrogacy using donor gamete is allowed.
- The surrogacy using donor gamete is allowed subject to the condition that the child to be born through surrogacy must have at least one gamete from the intending couple.
- This means if both the partners have medical problems or are unable to have their own gametes they cannot opt for surrogacy.
- Single women (widow or divorcee) undergoing surrogacy must use self-eggs and donor sperm to avail surrogacy procedures.
Types of Surrogacy:
Altruistic Surrogacy:
- It involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage during the pregnancy.
Commercial Surrogacy:
- It includes surrogacy or its related procedures undertaken for a monetary benefit or reward (in cash or kind) exceeding the basic medical expenses and insurance coverage.
Provisions of Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021:
- Under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, a woman who is a widow or a divorcee between the age of 35 to 45 years or a couple, defined as a legally married woman and man, can avail of surrogacy if they have a medical condition necessitating this option.
- The intended couple shall be a legally married Indian man and woman, the man shall be between the ages of 26-55 years and the woman shall be between the ages of 25-50 years, and shall not have any previous biological, adopted, or surrogate child.
- It also bans commercial surrogacy, which is punishable with a jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakhs.
- The law allows only altruistic surrogacy where no money exchanges hands and where a surrogate mother is genetically related to those seeking a child.