Nitish Banka

    • Legality of surrogacy in India

               Motherhood as everyone says is the worlds best relationship between a child and her mother, call is globalisation or modernisation this precious relationship has turned into a business to some people and dreams come true to some other. Surrogacy is an arrangement or call it an agreement between a woman and the intended parents who carries the child of these parents.

    1. The word surrogate has its origin from the Latin word “surrogates” meaning a substitute that is a person appointed to act in place of another. The report of the committee of inquiry into human fertilization and embryology or the Warnock report (1982) termed surrogacy as the practise whereby one woman carries a child for another with the intention that the child should be handed over after birth to the intended parents.

    2. The worlds 2nd and India’s 1st IVF(In Vitro Fertilization) baby, Kanupriya alias Durga was born in Kolkata on Oct 3,1978 about two months after the world 1st IVF boy, Louise Joy Brown born in Great Britain on July 25,1978, since then the (Assisted Reproductive Technology)ART came into existence.

    3. There are various kinds of surrogacy like traditional surrogacy, gentical surrogacy, donar surrogacy and so on…

    4. Coming to the issues relating to surrogacy are many from legal to religious lets have a look into it:-

    • Legal issues-

    1. Are surrogacy agreements enforceable, void or prohibited, does it make a difference whether the surrogate mother is paid or simply reimbursed for the expenses?

    2. Is there an alternative to post birth adoption for the recognition of the intended parents as the legal parents, either before of after the birth?

    1. Should we be concerned about exploitation of motherhood and corrosion when women are paid to be pregnant and deliver babies?

    2. To what extent it is right for the society to permit women to make contracts about the use of their babies.

    3. What does motherhood mean and where is the nuptial relationship lost after giving the child to the intended parents.

    4. Does the surrogate child have the right to know about the identity of her nuptial mother?

    • Religious issues-

    1. Catholics-paragraph 2376 if the catechism of the catholic church states that “techniques that entail the disassociation of husband and wife by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus) are immoral’’

    Most important thing that is to be considered here is that most of the foreign nationals are exploiting Indian poor women especially unmarried by showing them the lust for money and entering into surrogacy arrangements which is spoiling the lives and social relationships of these women the government has to look into this issue seriously and a determined law is to be framed in this aspect. On one side this sort of surrogacy births give a ray of hope to those people who cannot conceive but to the other side and to a very large extent this sort of arrangement is being used only for exploitation purpose which has to be kept in mind.

    By-: Taruni Banda

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