Through various news mediums & platforms we have heard a lot about the proposed “Surrogacy Bill” but still most of us are still unware about it. It became more popular when some of the Bollywood & Hollywood stars such as ShahRukh Khan, Amir khan, Nicole Kidman & Sarah Jessica Parker opted for this option to have kids.
In order to understand the proposed “Surrogacy Bill”, its implications and reasons why it has been proposed by the Indian Government a seminar was organized on 5th September, 2016 at the RNB Global University, Bikaner. Students from Law courses i.e Integrated BA + LL.B, Integrated BBA + LL.B & LL.B participated and presented their views on the proposed bill. Students showcased various real life cases, accidents & hard hitting facts related to surrogacy such as
- Deaths due to surgical procedure in order to harvest eggs from a body
- Unacceptance of child born through Surrogacy due to legal rules of foreign county or due to separation of the couples
- Commercialization of the surrogacy
Know about the proposed The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 proposes to regulate surrogacy in India by permitting it as an option for couples who cannot naturally have children, have a lack of other assisted reproductive technology options, are keen to have a biological child, and can find a surrogate mother among their relatives. Altruistic surrogacy, which means an arrangement without transfer of funds as inducement, is currently practised in some centres in India, though the majority of surrogacy centres use women who are paid for their services. The child born through surrogacy will have all the rights of a biological child. Indian infertile couples between the ages of 23-50 years (woman) and 26-55 (man) who have been married for five years and who do not have a surviving child will be eligible for surrogacy. The surrogate mother should be a close relative of the intending couple and between the ages of 25-35 years and shall act as a surrogate mother only once in her lifetime. Implementation will be through the national and State surrogacy boards. Any establishment found undertaking commercial surrogacy, abandoning the child, exploiting the surrogate mother, selling or importing a human embryo shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term not be less than 10 years and with a fine up to Rs.10 lakh. Registered surrogacy clinics will have to maintain all records for a minimum period of 25 years.
In the end all views & ideas were concluded and faculties gave valuable feedback to the participants.