‘No one can rent a womb’: Cabinet clamps down on commercial surrogacy

[prasad1]

Share:

Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

New Delhi: A draft bill which aims to safeguard the rights of surrogate mothers and make parentage of such children legal was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.

According to the Health Ministry proposal, the draft Surrogacy Bill, 2016 aims at regulating commissioning of surrogacy in the country in a proper manner.
Official sources said the Cabinet gave its green signal to the Bill to be introduced in Parliament.
..................................................

To prevent exploitation of women, especially those in rural and tribal areas, the government has prohibited foreigners from commissioning surrogacy in the country and has drafted this comprehensive legislation, the sources said.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nati...l-that-makes-parentage-of-children-legal.html

Commercial surrogacy in India is legal. The availability of medical infrastructure and potential surrogates, combined with international demand, has fueled the growth of the industry.[SUP][2][/SUP] Surrogate mothers receive medical, nutritional and overall health care through surrogacy agreements.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP]
The economic scale of surrogacy in India is unknown, but study backed by the United Nations in July 2012 estimated the business at more than $400 million a year, with over 3,000 fertility clinics across India.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_surrogacy_in_India

How will it affect the poor Indian women who could rent out her womb, instead of prostitution?
What will happen to all these clinics?

 

[prasad1]

Mumbai: While ministers and health officials posted positive tweets about thesurrogacy bill on Wednesday, the medical fraternity wasn't too happy.



Some doctors found it insensitive for keeping surrogacy out of the reach of today's modern family structure (read single persons and same-sex couples), others found it undemocratic for keeping the medical fraternity out of the draft bill process.



Medical ethicist Dr Anant Bhan said, "I am totally in support of better regulation, but the blanket statement that only people from the immediate family can be surrogates or people who are not unmarried or are 'homosexual' cannot, suggests that we are making a value judgement. This seems unacceptable in today's age." He also felt that the clause in the draft bill that allows people with a special needs child to opt for surrogacy was negative because it suggested that they "have some lower value of living".Infertility specialists Dr Nayna Patel and Dr Aniruddha Malpani said the regulation was welcome in that there was none so far. However, she said that the bill "virtually spelt death to surrogacy because it will take away a lot from couples who are infertile, it will be bad for women who benefitted from surrogacy and even the nation which will miss out on medical tourism." Dr Malpani, an infertility specialist from Colaba in Mumbai, said that while surrogacy had been overused and misused far too often, the new bill had ignored the years of debate over the pros and cons of commercial surrogacy.



Dr Narendra Malhotra, Delhi-based president of the ISAR (Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction) said, "It is unfortunate to virtually ban the only way some infertile couple can become parents.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Surrogacy-bill-insensitive-out-of-reach-of-modern-family-Doctors/articleshow/53850510.cms

 

[renuka]

Good!

High time its stopped.

 

[vgane]

Commercial surrogacy is banned in other countries too such as Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines