On February 11, the Supreme Court will look into rules about the age limit for women who want to be surrogate mothers. A bench with Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma heard around 15 petitions that question some parts of the Surrogacy Regulation Act and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021. The court asked the government to submit written arguments regarding these laws.
The laws set age limits: intended mothers can be 23 to 50 years old, intended fathers can be 26 to 55, and surrogate mothers must be married, between 25 and 35 years old, and have one biological child. They can only be surrogates once. The Supreme Court emphasized the importance of protecting surrogate mothers from being exploited, especially since commercial surrogacy is not allowed in India.
The justices proposed creating a database to keep track of surrogates, ensuring no one is taken advantage of. They discussed making a system where payments to surrogate mothers go through a government department instead of directly from the intended parents.
The current laws allow only altruistic surrogacy, aiming to stop commercial surrogacy. While altruistic surrogacy is good, petitioners pointed out that there are not enough ways to compensate surrogate mothers for their work. One petitioner mentioned that present rules only cover medical costs and insurance, which isn’t enough.
Dr. Arun Muthuvel, an infertility doctor from Chennai, is leading the challenge against these laws. He argues that the rules are unfair and take away the rights of women, especially for unmarried women who can’t use surrogacy and for restrictions on egg donations.
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