Introduction: -
Firstly, talking about surrogacy, it is a legal arrangement between a woman and intended parents who are willing to have a child. Here, a different woman carries the baby in her womb, and the sperm and eggs are from a different couple. Surrogacy and Reproductive laws have been in the news for a very long time because of their ill practices.
Background: -
India legalised gestational surrogacy in 2002, in which the surrogate mother is not the child's biological mother. The intended parents may look into surrogacy options with Indian clinics and organisations. Due to this, commercial surrogacy in India had a surge that drew people and couples from all over the world.
India became one of the favourite destinations for surrogacy. This rapid growth in surrogacy came with many problems. Unethical practices and wrong treatment of surrogate mothers who were carrying the baby.
Legal Issues surrounding reproductive and surrogacy laws
India earned worldwide respect as an unmistakable objective for surrogacy because of variables like reasonableness, gifted clinical experts, and a legitimate structure that permitted business surrogacy.
Be that as it may, the fast development of the surrogacy business likewise prompted reports of abuse, untrustworthy practices, and the deserting of kids brought into the world through surrogacy. These worries incited the Indian government to address the legal holes and manage the training all the more successfully.
Ban on Commercial Surrogacy: For foreign couples, commercial surrogacy was outlawed in India in 2015. This was carried out in order to stop the exploitation of Indian surrogate mothers and allay worries regarding the absence of legal regulation in such agreements. As a result, many couples, including same-sex couples and single people, were left without access to surrogacy services.
But the biggest legal advancement in India was the restriction on business surrogacy:
The Surrogacy (Guideline) Bill, passed in 2019 and supplanted by the Surrogacy (Guideline) Act, of 2020, was meant to check the commercialization of surrogacy. Under this regulation, just benevolent surrogacy is allowed, wherein the proxy mother doesn't get money related to past clinical costs and protection inclusion. The restriction on business surrogacy was carried out to forestall the commodification of ladies' bodies and lessen the dangers of abuse. This bill aimed to regulate and restrict surrogacy, making it only available to Indian married couples with infertility issues.
It prohibited commercial surrogacy and limited surrogacy to altruistic arrangements where the surrogate is not paid, except for medical expenses. The bill also included provisions to protect the rights of surrogate mothers and the child. The Surrogacy (Guideline) Act, 2020, presented qualification models and limitations for guardians, substitute moms, and surrogacy facilities.
It allows only Indian married couples who have been hitched for somewhere around five years and can't imagine or consider life without surrogacy to decide on surrogacy. Moreover, the lady's age ought to be within 23-50 years, and the man's age ought to be within 26-55 years. These rigid measures intend to forestall abuse of the training and guarantee that surrogacy is sought after if all else fails.
The practice of surrogacy has raised ethical and social concerns related to the commercialization of human reproduction, the potential for exploitation of vulnerable individuals, and questions about the commodification of children.