Legal Issues to Surrogacy in India
Surrogacy in India has been through many changes from allowing commercial surrogacy to banning it and from allowing the traditional or gestational surrogacy to keep moving. Let’s take a deeper dive into these to understand the legal framework for surrogacy in India and what could be the issues when you go for surrogacy.
Surrogacy in India was used to be popular before 2015 as all the couples used to enjoy the benefits of the Indian surrogacy. India became the leader in attracting couples from all around the world during 2002 era due to their relatively low cost and easy access of facility provided by surrogacy agency in India. After 2015 when India imposed a ban on Indian surrogacy for foreign couples, it was a shocking decision for the couples seeking the surrogacy. Government ordered to immediately sent back the foreign couples opting the surrogacy, hence those who are already between the process had not been given any harm but no further acceptance then be entertained for the foreign surrogacy.
What is the current legal status of Surrogacy?
The one which used to be the important destination for international couples for adopting surrogacy services in India is no longer an option in 2015, at which time the Indian government passed new guidelines on the surrogacy methods. Today, Indian surrogacy laws make it unavailable for international couples to finish their surrogacy needs in India. Couples who can now conclude commercial surrogacy are only those living in India itself and at least are married since past 5 years.
The prohibition on intended couples from other countries in 2015 was just the beginning of laws made to direct the surrogacy. In December 2018, after right around two years of discussion, an Indian surrogacy law was passed that:
• Made concluding commercial surrogacy in India as illegal, even by the local citizen
• Only altruistic surrogacy made available for the needy and struggling Indian couples
• Banned gay surrogacy, single parent surrogacy and live-in couples from opting the surrogacy services
• Imposed the rule where a female can become surrogate only once and that too when the lady is close relative of the intended couples and already having a biological child
• Required intended couples to have doctor’s certificate of their infertility and should be married from past 5 years to go for the surrogacy options
These are the current status of surrogacy laws in India, although the surrogacy laws are still in debates in courts therefore you can see the amendments in a short span of time depending upon the decision that Indian courts will take.
Legal Issues to Surrogacy in India
Now as you are aware of the laws in India, you can easily extract the legal issues that being an International couple you can face. The sort of legal issues that can arise in front of you are that you can’t firstly apply for the surrogacy services if you’re not holding the Indian citizenship. Now if you can’t even conclude the surrogacy agency in India, there will be no issues that you should be bothered about. Still if you manage to enter the Indian surrogacy world and got caught then you could face 10 years of imprisonment or 10 lakh INR fine. So better stay in legal lines and search for the alternatives of the Indian surrogacy agency.