Surrogacy act gives birth to a debate

Mumbai (DNA/Santosh Andhale) : While a top Bollywood actor rumoured to be having his third child through a surrogate has neither confirmed nor denied the reports, senior doctors and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) specialists are once again hotly debating whether surrogacy should be available only to those couples who cannot bear a child in any other way or to anybody who can afford it.

In the absence of clear regulation, they all agree, surrogacy is a currently unchecked and unsupervised industry with no law to fall back on if anything goes wrong during the treatment. Whether couples already blessed with kids should opt for a surrogate is also being debated. “Surrogacy is an option for those couples where pregnancy could be dangerous for the woman or if she has a medical problem such as multiple miscarriages,” said Dr Ameet Patki, a senior IVF expert based in Khar. That’s the only condition on which he recommends surrogacy, he added,” Dr Patki added.

Truth is bitter, realise NRI couple

Chennai (The Hindu) : Inadvertent admission about surrogacy of their child has US Consulate authorities cancelling passport, while they are left desperately seeking DNA report

An NRI couple from the United States landed themselves in trouble when their child’s passport was cancelled. The U.S. Consulate had revoked the passport after learning that the child was born to a surrogate mother from India.

The couple — the husband carries an Indian passport while the mother and child are having U.S. passports — came to India en route to another foreign country and had approached the US Consulate for the visa details.

The Consulate annulled the passport once the couple inadvertently confessed about the son’s birth origin. It directed the couple to once again apply for an Indian passport for issuing the visa. The couple then approached the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Secunderabad.

गर्भाशय भाड्याने देण्यात महाराष्ट्र आघाडीवर

मुंबई(सकाळ वृत्तसेवा): मूल न होऊ शकणाऱ्यांना गर्भाशय भाड्याने देऊन अपत्यसुख देण्यात महाराष्ट्र अग्रेसर आहे. त्याखालोखाल गुजरात, आंध्र प्रदेश आणि दिल्लीचा क्रमांक लागत असल्याचे सरोगसीसाठी (भाडोत्री मातृत्वासाठी) नोंदविण्यात आलेल्या अधिकृत नोंदणी संकेतस्थळांवरील आकडेवारीवरून स्पष्ट होत आहे. 

सरोगसी फाईंडर, सरोगसी फॉर कपल, सरोगेट अ ब्लेसिंग, ड्रीम सरोगसी नावाच्या विविध संकेतस्थळांवर भाड्याने गर्भाशय देण्यासाठी उत्सुक असणाऱ्या मुली, तसेच स्त्रियांची नोंदणी केली जाते. जगातील विविध देश, तसेच या देशांतील विविध प्रदेशांतून स्त्रियांची नोंद येथे होत असते. या संकेतस्थळांमध्ये भाडोत्री मातृत्वासाठी सर्वाधिक मागणी - पुरवठ्याचे सूत्र "सरोगसी फाईंडर' वर पूर्ण केले जाते. अफगाणिस्तानपासून इस्राईलपर्यंत, भारतापासून लंडनपर्यंत प्रत्येक देशातल्या अपत्य नसणाऱ्यांसाठी भाड्याने गर्भाशय देणाऱ्या स्त्रियांची नोंद येथे केली जाते. येथे सरोगसीसाठी कार्यरत असणाऱ्या एजन्सी, तसेच रुग्णालयांचीही विस्तृत माहिती देण्यात आली आहे. येथे भाडोत्री मातृत्व हे केवळ विवाहित वा एकत्र राहणाऱ्या जोडप्यांसाठी नसून "सिंगल्स', विभिन्न लैंगिकता असणारे स्त्री-पुरुष यांनाही या पद्धतीने बाळ घेता येते. 

India's shame story

Israeli paedophile adopts girl through surrogate mother

New Delhi (DNA/Manan kumar & Ritika Chopra) : Israeli paedophile, who has served a year-and-a-half in jail for sexually abusing children, managed to adopt a four-year-old girl through an arrangement with a surrogate mother in India. Though it paints an embarrassing picture of the regulation of surrogacy in India, the government is unaware about the development and refused to act till Friday. 

Women and child development minister Krishna Tirath feigned ignorance when dna called her. “I have not seen the story and so I don’t want to comment. You should get in touch with my information officer,” she said. There was no official response from the home ministry either, but officials said the government will not be able to intervene as the child, in all probability, is an Israeli citizen. The onus, therefore, is on Israel to take action against the man.

The case came to light after NGO Israel National Council for the Child (NCC) received a tip-off. Further investigation revealed that the Israeli national is a convicted paedophile.