Why Surrogacy in India is Still a Distant thing for Many?
Two new laws governing surrogacy and assisted reproduction went into force in India recently as a result of years of lobbying by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its allies. The Assisted Reproductive Technology Act (“ART Act”) and the Surrogacy Act both contain numerous rules that specify requirements for ethical surrogacy in India and assisted reproductive technology (ART), as well as a detailed list of rights that safeguard children born through ART.
While the legislation passed in 2021 included a number of the Center’s and its allies’ suggestions, activists have found important loopholes that call for additional activism and legislative change.
The South Africa Children’s Act of 2005 which came into force in the year 2010 has authorized the “intended parents” and the surrogate mother to get their surrogacy agreement verified by the High Court before starting with the fertilization process. This would then validate the intended parents as the authorized legal parent’s right from the start of the whole process. Still the surrogate mother will be the legal mother until the next 60 days of the birth of the child and she can also change her mind in the meantime. On the other side, only the people residing in the country can opt for the surrogacy process and mostly the single parents and gay couples are allowed to pursue the surrogacy arrangement in the country. On the other side, one of the parents is required to be genetically connected with the future child and they can only opt for altruistic surrogacy and not commercial surrogacy.
