According to draft bill provisions, no woman less than 21 years of
age and over 35 years can act as a surrogate mother
Women in India cannot act as surrogates for more than three
successful births, including of their own children, and it would be mandatory
for surrogate mothers to have a minimum two-year interval between two
deliveries to ensure they remain healthy.
These landmark provisions are part of the proposed draft Assisted
Reproductive Technologies (ART) Bill which the government plans to bring to the
Cabinet before introducing in Parliament for passage.
The bill, a first in India's history, seeks to monitor the
unregulated sector of ART clinics, which offer infertility solutions to couples
at huge costs, besides preventing commercial surrogacy and safeguarding the
rights of surrogate mothers and children born out of surrogacy arrangements.
An estimated 15 per cent couples worldwide are infertile, making
ART services critical.
The draft ART Bill seeks to fill these gaps and addresses
"ethical, legal issues related to gamete donation, surrogacy and nationality
of the child born out of ART in INDIA."
The bill is significant as currently there is no supervisory body
in the country under which ART clinics offering services, including surrogacy
to infertile couples, can be placed and there is no system to monitor these
services and ensure that surrogate mothers are well taken care of.
According to draft bill provisions, no woman less than 21 years of
age and over 35 years can act as a surrogate mother.
The bill also, for the first time, states conditions for foreign
couples seeking to hire surrogates in India.
